2009: A look back

Wow. This has been quite a year. I have to say that 2009 was one of the best years of my life. I fell even more in love with my amazing husband, I finally figured out the value of a few true friends, I lost some not so great friends which ended up being an amazing blessing, I battled my infertility, and am currently falling head over heels in love with this little girl I'm carrying.

Seriously. Could it get any better?

Just for fun, and because I saw this on Mrs. Everlasting's blog and loved it, here is a look back at my 2009...

January: I started off the New Year quietly, on my couch, with my family, recovering from surgery after my 4th miscarriage. Mr. Perfect, the Marine, and I got a wild hair and headed out for tatoos (I got the smallest of the 3, trust...). I celebrated my dear friend, KT's 23rd birthday with some of my favorite people.

February: Mr. Perfect and I got baptised and joined our church. I fell a little more in love with Mr. Perfect as he truly became the spiritual leader of our house. My family lost our dog due to heart failure. My best pal, AP, turned 26 in our true fashion; a late night, lots of laughs, and way too many margaritas. Mr. Perfect pulled off the best Valentine's night over, by celebrating on Friday the 13th and taking me on a ghost tour.

March: I ran my first 5k! Mr. Perfect and I remodeled our bedroom. We took a much overdue trip to visit my parentals in Baltimore and even though I froze, we had a blast. My coworker, Nebraska, moved back home leaving me all sad and stuff at work. =(

April: I had surgery to repair the septum in my uterus and was also diagnosed with endometriosis. Mr. Perfect and I ventured to Small Town, SC for a nice Easter with his family. I officially fell head over heels in love with running.

May: I celebrated my 4 year anniversary with the love of my life. We bought Rock Band and it changed my life. My amazing husband turned 32 (!). My goddaughter turned 2 and we headed to Charleston for her birthday weekend. I was the DD for Cinco de Mayo and decided never to do that again!

June: I spent a lot of time at the beach and out on the river. Truly my happy place. My best friend's son turned 6 and we headed back up to Charleston for his birthday weekend. Mr. Perfect and I had two teenage girls from his home church come stay with us for a week. We decided we should never be parents to girls... ironic much?!?

July: Mr. Perfect surprised me with the best belated anniversary present ever. I spent the 4th of July weekend on the river with my family and it was one of the best weekends ever. My aunt and uncle from Texas came down for a week and I got to meet my new step-cousin whom I adore.

August: I played in a soccer tournament the first weekend of the month.. it would be my last for a while! I found out on August 3rd that our lives were forever changed with a little positive sign. We had a slight scare early on, but this one stuck with us...

September: I turned twenty seven. Holy wow. Mr. Perfect planned a nice dinner at home with my family since I was exhausted. Then my girls took me out for a nice dinner the next night to celebrate. My pal, KW, gave birth to her daughter, Gabby, forever changing our little circle of friends. The Marine came and spent a few weeks with us before heading back up to Base, North Carolina.

October: I threw a baby shower for just one of my many prego friends, KT. Mr. Perfect and I headed up to Base, NC to see the Marine off to A-stan. It didn't quite work out, but at least we got to spend a week with him before he left. I carved pumpkins with Mr. Perfect and AP and didn't stop laughing even once the whole time. Mr. Perfect and I headed out for a night of belly dancers with some of our friends and had a grand old time.

November: Threw a baby shower for my best friend, KP. Headed up to Small Town, SC for Thanksgiving dinner with Mr. Perfect's family. Found out that our precious baby was a girl!!! Top 10 best moments of my life...

December: Spent a lovely holiday season with family. Made sure to enjoy every last minute of mine and Mr. Perfect's last Christmas together just the two of us. Dragged Mr. Perfect to multiple Christmas parties (his words, not mine). Welcomed KP's daughter, Katherine, to the world. I plan on ending the New Year in the same spot on my couch I started it on, but this time while my baby kicks away at my ribs the whole time...

So long 2009. It was a doozy, but I've never had so much fun in my life. I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us...

Happy New Years y'all!!

Welcome to the world sweet baby!!

I have a Christmas post in the making, but I've been completely distracted this week as my best pal, KP, gave birth to her sweet, gorgeous baby girl on Monday.

I am in love.

I can't wait til April when my Baby Girl gets here to meet her future BFF!

Congratulations K & R!! You guys made one beautiful babe!!



KW, KP and Kathryn, & I




Mr. Perfect and R are already wrapped around her finger... Gosh I can't wait to see Mr. Perfect with ours... .:: cue heart melting ::.

Christmas 2doubleoh9: a recap

Yea, I'm late. But I still wanted to get this up here to look back on. So here goes.

I was putting a lot of pressure on this Christmas to be just amazing since it was Mr. Perfect's and my last Christmas just the two of us. However, things quickly weren't going my way so I gave up. Once I did, they went just like they were supposed to.

We didn't get to go see the Christmas lights we always went to see growing up because the people didn't do them this year. We didn't stay up late watching Christmas movies each night, because I was exhausted. We didn't exchange a ton of gifts because we deemed saving for Baby Girl a bit more important. But... we did enjoy a lovely candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve (which the hubs didn't get to go to grr....), and we did eat a lot of good food, and I did get to open gifts just me and the hubs on Christmas Eve, which was perfect. So not bad.

Christmas Eve, my parents (who were in town for the holidays), my aunt, and my grandparents headed to church for the candlelight service at church. Mr. Perfect had to work (I know!) so he didn't make it, but he met us for dinner afterward. The service was perfect. Hands down my favorite part of the holiday, as usual.

After dinner Mr. Perfect and I headed home while my parents went to a Christmas party for a bit. We wanted to exchange our gift by ourselves so we figured that was the best time to do it. We just got one thing each for each other, but that was all we needed. I got a Flip video camera and he got an x-box 360. I love my new camera and I know it's going to come in super handy. Mr. Perfect spent the rest of the night cooking food for the next day and I lazed around with the pups on the couch.. Perfection..




Christmas Day we got up early and did gift with the parents. Don't worry, the pups and the cat got plenty of loot too. After we finished, we headed over to the grandparents for lunch and more gifts. The rest of the day was spent lazing around and trying not to bust from way too much good cooking.





Frying up the turkey.

Grandma cooking up a storm.


my parents..

So that was our Christmas in a nutshell. Even Baby Girl scored some sweet gifts. The best and her kids came over a few days later and we did Christmas with them, but that will have to be a post tomorrow because (shocker), I'm tired. All in all, a great holiday with family that we all survived. Always a perfect ending!

25 weeks

Total Weight Gained/Loss? gained 3 this month, so up a total of 10 from my original.

Maternity Clothes: yes please, my belly does not like tight clothes anymore at all!

Sleep? pretty good right now. Take me a while to get comfortable and get to sleep, but once I'm there, I'm there.

Best Moment of the Week? My mom got to go to her appt. this week and hear her sweet heartbeat, and my dad got to feel her little dancing routine one night.

Movement- all the time. She's getting more consistent about her movement too. Bedtime is playtime, right after I eat is playtime, and she's pretty quiet most of the day when I'm on my feet. My favorite time of day is bedtime when her Dad and I get to lay down and watch her go crazy!

Food Craving- Not craving anything really.. I just like to eat =)

Food aversions- seafood. I can't do it at all.

Morning sickness?- nope, but still really tired. I passed my glucose test (I took it early since I've had insulin problems prior to all this), but my hemoglobin was low at my last visit. So that could have a lot to do with why I'm so tired. The doctor is just going to monitor it for me and I'm supposed to eat more greens and a bunch of other stuff I don't like. Sounds super fun...

Gender- Baby Girl =)

Labor Signs- none.

Belly Button- oh so shallow... but still in there.

What I miss- Not feeling so dang clumsy. My belly is huge y'all. It seriously made an appearance this week in a big way and I feel really large and uncomfortable. Also, I can't breathe. If I lay back, I can't breathe, if I walk, I can't breathe, it's seriously ridiculous.

What I'm looking forward to- everything. I have her first shower in January and I can't wait!!

Weekly Wisdom- Enjoy every little thing because this pregnancy thing is flying by. I'm serious, I'm loving all of this. The registering is fun, the shopping is fun, I love it all.

Milestones- I passed my glucose test!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas from the Imperfect clan!!


Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Hope y'all have a wonderful Christmas!!

a different kind of Christmas.

Since Mr. Perfect and I have been together, the holidays haven't always been the easiest for us.

This will only be our second Christmas together that we haven't been suffering a miscarriage, on bedrest trying to prevent a miscarriage, or recovering from surgery after a miscarriage.

We have amazing timing no?

This Christmas has brought back so many memories of how lost and alone I felt when I couldn't figure out why God wouldn't let us keep our babies. But just as quickly as they arrive, they disappear, usually when Baby Girl kicks the crap out of me.

I don't think I will ever understand why we (and so many others) had to go through all those losses. I'll probably never understand why this baby got to be the one that made it when the other 4 just couldn't.

But I don't need to.

I haven't forgotten my journey to get here and I will always hold a special place in my heart for those women struggling with infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss, but I have let go of all the bitterness I felt about our past issues. This Christmas isn't about mourning the loss of a baby or praying that a baby will make it. This Christmas is reminding me that our God is faithful and He always provides. It may take longer than we would like and the journey may be harder than we expected, but He is always taking care of us.

I think I've put a lot of pressure on myself to make this the best Christmas ever. I've been stressing about gifts, and church services, and family time, just trying to make it all perfect.

But it already is. Because God has blessed me in more ways than I ever deserved. I have an amazing husband, a wonderful family, a brother that is safe overseas, and a precious baby girl growing away and kicking up a storm in my belly.

Even though it was a terrible road, everything we went though; every surgery, every shot in the back, every medication, every failed treatment, every failed pregnancy; was completely worth it for our little miracle. And she is the best Christmas present I could ever ask for.

24 weeks

Total Weight Gained/Loss? will find out Wednesday. And I'm not looking forward to that part AT ALL.

Maternity Clothes: I found some much better fitting maternity jeans and bought a few tops, and the belly is much happier. I can still wear most of my tops though which is a good thing.

Sleep? Much better this week. It takes a while to get to sleep because Baby Girl still thinks bedtime is playtime, but I can usually sleep through the night now. Rarely I get up to use the bathroom or get water or something.

Best Moment of the Week? We're registered!! And only one panic attack was had. After 3 hours at Babies-r-us, I just couldn't take it anymore!

Movement- I'm finally starting to notice patterns with her movement. She gets going right after breakfast, about mid morning, after lunch, midafternoon, after dinner, and bedtime. Pretty much, she moves all day. She better sleep more than that when she gets here!

Food Craving- anything. I do get really full really quick though, and when I get full, my stomach feels awful. I feel like I can literally feel my muscles in my stomach stretching and it is not fun.

Food aversions- Mainly just seafood now.

Morning sickness?- none since week 13 or so. I feel great right now, just always tired...

Gender- Baby Girl =)

Labor Signs- none.

Belly Button- oh so shallow...

What I miss- I miss my clothes fitting and my back not hurting. Other than that, I don't feel like that much has changed honestly. I am still able to do pretty much everything I could before I got pregnant. But that could be just because I've felt pretty good this week.

What I'm looking forward to- Decorating her room!

Weekly Wisdom- Try to relax! This is a huge process. You can't get it (registering, the room, etc) all done in one day. Enjoy the process...

Milestones- She's viable this week!! But you stay in there little girl and get nice and big! Well.. not too big.. =)

why we're the best pet owners ever...

Because we do things like this to our cat and thoroughly enjoy it. Like, laughing hysterically enjoy it.



Or I do. Mr. Perfect was a little horrified that I was torturing his cat.

Ahh.. cheap entertainment.

introducing....

I know these are a couple of weeks old, but I still wanted to share them. These are our precious daughter's most recent pictures from when we were 20 weeks. I honestly used to hate ultrasound pictures and didn't get it when people flashed them around because I couldn't tell what anything was. So if that's you now, I completely understand if you just shy on away, but since they are my ultrasound pics and they're of my baby girl, well they're totally ok in my book!!

Please meet our baby girl, Ella Grace....


She was sucking on her fingers while the lady was trying to get this picture. She literally put every finger in her mouth one by one and sucked on them. She gets that from her Dad..

Scary alien baby face alert.


Perfect little hand. I promise you she has a thumb, its just hidden.


Definitely a girl, and the only time something like this of hers better be on the internet. I'm not raising a Pam Anderson.


Be still my heart..


I mean seriously. Look at that adorable profile!! Gah I already just want to eat her up!!


End proud sappy mother moment.... Well, until next week. =)

23 weeks

*I know this is late, but we've been out of town at a funeral so... Sorry!
How Far Along? 23 weeks. Hello 6 months!

Total Weight Gained/Loss? my scale at work says I'm up a total of 6 from my original weight. Not counting the ones I lost at the beginning anymore.

Maternity Clothes: I am no longer in love with my maternity jeans. I don't get how with modern technology the way it is, we still can't design maternity jeans that will stay up. Good thing I live in scrubs and workout wear.

Sleep? I'm sleeping ok, but man my back sure does hurt every morning... And the dreams. They never stop. They are so vivid and they just keep going!!

Best Moment of the Week? Her movement still. I love it.

Movement- all the time. Little inconvenient when she finds your bladder during a funeral. Not so fun.

Food Craving- anything. I am starving!! Where did this appetite come from?! I sure hope it doesn't stick around forever!!

Food aversions- Still not liking meat. Oh.. or seafood. Blech.

Morning sickness?- I actually feel really great right now.. I just still have no energy. I'm thinking maybe it's from my blood thinner use. I'm going to talk to my doc about this next visit.

Gender- Baby Girl =)

Labor Signs- none.

Belly Button- oh so shallow...

What I miss- I miss being small. I know that makes no sense, but I'm really uncomfortable with this belly. Sometimes I get out of breath doing the littlest thing or my stomach muscles hurt so bad it hurts to breathe. I know my belly is not that big, but it is in my way. I already feel thrown off, my balance is off, and my back hurts constantly. I just miss being able to do simple things, like get up from the couch on my own!!

What I'm looking forward to- I love all this honestly. Yes, I'm ridiculously uncomfortable, but I love watching my belly grow and knowing she's growing away in there...

Weekly Wisdom- People will violate your personal space. Normally, this would throw me into a panic attack, but I'm trying to be ok with it. I like that Mr. Perfect is right there to be with me because he knows how I get. And they will always have an opinion. I get a lot of "you sure you're eating enough, you're still so small" and "that baby needs more food". Just smile and nod. I know she's healthy. That's all that matters..

Milestones- We have started the registry process!! And it is exhausting.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas decorations, oh how I love thee.

I managed to wait until the Saturday after Thanksgiving to decorate. That is some major self control on this girls' part.

But once Saturday rolled around, I dragged Mr. Perfect to the nearest Christmas tree farm Food Lion (hey, I live in the city and have no idea where a tree farm is), and bought our tree.

He might have been a little bit sick, sorry sweets, but he was more than willing to go buy the tree. Might have had something to do with shutting me up, but whatever works.



Let the madness decorating begin.


Putting the first ornament on...


Our tree! It's still pretty bare, but we get a few new ornaments each year. I don't have the room for multiple trees, so right now I love my hodge podge tree.

Up close

Don't know if you can tell, but we have no ornaments at the bottom of the tree... I have mentioned my deep love for out cat right?!?

DVD shelves


One end table


The other end table with my favorite plate


The coffee table. That gold hook should have something hanging from it, but I thought it was an ornament and put it on the tree and now I can't find it.... Hmmm

The hearth. Ignore the board holding up our mantle please. That's a home improvement task gone slightly astray. We're figuring it out. I'm also trying to figure out a way to conceal the satellite and dvd boxes, but haven't quite gotten that one yet either...

The mantle. The Mr. was loving him some "Cops" while I was trying to do this.

Another shelf..

Back door

Dining area with Baby Girl's mattress just chilling out.

Place settings

pantry door

My Christmas village in the guest room..

Another view of the tree

Well there's my little tour. Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our little holiday home! I'd be perfectly fine with doing more and more each year!!