Friday Five: Reasons I Love Being a Mom of Girls

Happy Friday everyone! Thanks to those who are popping in from Kelly's Korner for her Show Us Your Life (SUYL) series. Kelly's blog is one of my very favorites and our girls are all about the same ages. Like Kelly, I use my blog to share my faith, family fun, role as an Advocate for Compassion International and a new bit of my addiction to crafts and DIY (thanks to Pinterest)! You are so welcome here and I hope you will join us on Tuesdays for my Destination: Inspiration linky party where I feature homemade crafts, inspirational writing, DIY  transformations and more.

Today's topic is moms who have daughters and that's me! I decided to capture this as part of my Friday Five. My husband Brian is from County Galway in Ireland. Our daughter Teagan will turn  three years old and Isla (pronounced "eye-la") will celebrate her first birthday this month so I have lots of reasons to love my blessed life! Here we go....

Five Reasons I Love Being a Mom of Girls

1. Because Life is Too Short For Anything Not Sparkletastic!

In our house tutus and fairy wings, bows and anything sparkly are the norm for breakfast, a trip to the store and even nap time! I am so in love with fun girly clothes but have to say little boy duds are catching up! And good thing because lately Teagan is also into the color green. Really into it. And she is just as likely to pick out a truck to play with over a doll. But for now we are still having fun with girly attire. Last night I painted her little piggie toes a sparkly pink and she was SO excited she couldn't wait for them to dry before twirling around for Daddy to see!

This purple fairy costume is a nap time favorite!

Tutus and cowgirl boots always look fabulous!

And bows with golf? Of course!

Isla's first Halloween tutu. My little pumpkin!

And owls galore! I am a big fan of Kelly's Kids clothes for the girls.

2. I Can Indulge My Love of Dressing Them Alike (at least for now...without it being weird)

July 4th dresses from Uncle Keith and Auntie Avril in Ireland!

My little shamrock baby! Her first St. Patrick's Day parade a few weeks ago!

Big sister in the same outfit catching the sights and sounds.

3. I Love All the Ways We Are So Similar

This picture makes me giggle because even though Daddy HATES pickles and olives Teagan and I love them! We don't usually have them in our house so when we go to parties we snag them up...and chase him around going, "Ummmmmm pickllllleeeeees!"

And like her mommy, Teagan loves cupcakes!

...and shopping

...and trying something new

4. I love that my big, burly husband has melted into the perfect daddy for girls which such abandon. 

This is such a pivotal relationship in a girl's life and we are so blessed to have Brian as my husband and the girl's Daddy. I can't wait for him to teach them to golf, to use a tool properly, for a Daddy-Daughter dance at Valentine's, for him to walk them down the aisle at their weddings. There are so many special memories we are making and more to come. 

5. For The Special Friendship That Will Bond These Sisters

Even before Isla arrived Teagan practiced changing diapers so she could help me.

Meeting for the first time. 

It has been my dream for my children to have as close a relationship as I have with my sisters and "baby" brother. One reason I am excited about homeschooling is that we will look inside our home first as we develop friendships and bonds. 

This picture says it all. They will fight. A lot. And drive each other crazy. See the slightly concerned look on Isla's face? But at the end of the day I pray they love and support each other. I pray they raise their children together as much as our big world allows. 

I pray that they would have wisdom that enables them to make not only a good choice but the best choice. I pray they always have a heart for Jesus and for serving those who are less fortunate. 

And I hope they dream. Big, wild, crazy dreams. If they are stay-at-home moms or doing something to transform the way we think and live. It would all make me so proud. 

What are you and your family doing this weekend? An Easter Uh-Oh just took place in our house this morning. We are getting ready to dye Easter eggs and told Teagan, "Lets go check on them to see if they are ready!!!" She said in an excited whisper, "Yes!! And be veryyyyyyyyyyyyy quiet. There are babies in there!".....oops. It's never a dull moment around here. I love my girls so much and can't wait to hear from others!

Thanks for visiting. Happy Easter to you and your family!
Michelle

Praise You in This Storm: Our Path to Parenthood

Hello everyone! If you are popping in from Kelly's Korner this week then you are very welcome!Although mine is a small blog compared to hers, it's similar in that I also share my love of Christ and the adventures of my Irish husband Brian and our two girls Teagan (2.5) and Isla (11 months). I also write about my role as an Advocate for Compassion International and a bit o' crafty/DIY inspiration. I hope you will become a follower. And if you have been hit with the Pinterest crafting bug then  please come back on Tuesdays for my Destination: Inspiration linky parties!

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not onto your own understanding, in all of your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path."

Proverbs 3:5

A Beautiful Beginning

When my mother told me as a high school teenager not to rush into marriage I don't think she ever suspected how long I would heed her advice! I traveled the world with school and my job and even lived in Japan for two years. I was blessed to meet Brian in my late twenties. We dated a whopping 5.5 years before we got married in front of 80 of our closest friends and family via a destination wedding in Playa del Carmen, Mexico! I was 35 years old. I never felt happier and life was working out just as I planned. As a project manager and risk consultant I felt any issue could be solved if you planned well and took a task-oriented approach to solving it.

Raindrops...

Looking back there were clues that I would run into fertility problems as early as my adolescence but at the time I assumed that all was well and we would have a baby in our arms in no time! After several weeks of feeling queasy I became so confused when my first pregnancy test showed a clear positive but before I could get back into town to tell Brian there was no longer a trace of a line on any subsequent test. I think this was my very first miscarriage though it was never medically confirmed.

and Storms...

The next few years brought a series of challenges including a tough schedule that had me traveling a lot, a cross-country move where we left our closest friends, not being able to sell our house, Brian having trouble finding a new job...it was as if we were stuck in mud and couldn't move forward or backward. And to make matters worse we couldn't get pregnant. My doctor had us try Clomid but after just one month he referred us to a fertility specialist.

 Testing, Testing - This is Only a Test...

The next few years brought test after test as doctors tried to determine why we couldn't get pregnant. And just when I couldn't take anymore tests...a light! We were scheduled for IUI (Intrauterine Insemination). This was it! I was SURE now we'd get pregnant. But the first round of treatment didn't work. We were devastated. The wait was long but the next time we tried we got a positive test result! A positive! I skipped happily into the reproductive endocrinologist's office for my blood work that morning and headed off to work to wait for the phone call with a confirmation. I was so absolutely confident we were pregnant that...as crazy as it sounds, I bought a baby onesie over my lunch break. I remember feeling faint when my nurse called to tell me she had bad news. The numbers indicated the pregnancy wasn't viable. I was stunned and kept saying over and over, "But I'm pregnant..."

Praise You in This Storm

Even now I find it hard to get into some of the details of our path to parenthood. Another miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy when we least expected it...God bless The Casting Crowns!! I would listen to Praise You in This Storm by The Casting Crowns each day on my drive to work and home, over and over. It was like a salve on my aching heart that helped me actually make it through each day. Looking back I truly feel God brought me to my knees to show my project manager, type A self that His plans for me are far more wonderful than anything I could come up with. That I need to rely on HIS will, not mine.

But I hope in sharing my story with others that I can give you HOPE. My doctor said something very important to me: It is not IF you become a parent, it is WHEN. Ultimately our options were Invitrofertilization (IVF) or adoption. I swore we would never go as far as IVF in our quest to become parents. My heart was conflicted but it was also raw and someone close to us was going through a very tough adoption process. After taking four months to collect our thoughts and pray for God's will we ultimately chose the IVF route. And once we did, I found peace. As I saw our little embryos on the screen in the procedure room my doctor, who is a Christian, explained that he had taken us as far as science could but that this had to be of God for it to work.  

The Desires of My Heart.....

Teagan

2009

Isla

2011

For about a year now I've wanted to share the story of our path to parenthood. I found the infertility highway a road of loneliness, at times hope, and at others despair. I felt numb, cold, isolated and that I must be the only person in my social group going through these trials.  I am not sure why this is one condition that isolates us as women. Perhaps it is too painful to talk about? Or, as in my case, I felt that I was less of a woman because I couldn't "do" what every woman in the world could do - give my husband...myself...a baby?

But thankfully I found my voice. I was open and honest about our setbacks. With friends and family. With strangers. And it was at the moment when I was most vulnerable that I found some peace in the form of others who seemed grateful to be able to talk. To relate. I so hope this provides peace for you my friend. I would be privileged to pray for you. Please comment below or send an email to teaganstravels@yahoo.com if you want more privacy. In the meantime, let us pray together:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please hear our hearts today. Hearts that beg for a child, for children in our homes, God. Our minds tell us that you are in control, that you have great plans for us but oh, the hours are long and our souls become weary. Lift us into your arms. Give us strength. Give us hope. Help us to be open to your path to parenthood for us. We pray that we can praise you in this storm and learn what you want us to from this experience. Give us the gift of patience and perseverance.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

God Bless You and Yours,
Michelle

Girl Talk!

Happy weekend everyone! I've been a bit under the weather this week and trying to fall into bed earlier at night so I didn't blog much. But happily the weekend is here, Brian's mom is visiting from Ireland and the weather has turned positively cold - all good things!

It's 4:40 am here and sleep just won't come so I thought I'd make a quick post to link up with Kelly's Korner's Show Us Your Life series. Today's topic is to show our favourite bible study or devotional book. That's an easy pick for me as I have a book I return to often. I can always glean a bit of new enjoyment and knowledge from it in the process. I've even purchased extra copies of this for girlfriends because in my opinion it is just.that.good.


If you've read my blog you know I love me some Lysa Terkeurst! She is funnnnnnnny! Oh! But that woman can make me laugh. She is so open and honest about life and I gotta say that I see so much of myself in her comedy of errors. Do read about the floating mattress incident or the not-so-perfect mommy moment where 100 wonderfully displayed brownies never made it to their intended recipients. I have never laughed so much while reading a non-fiction book. I've said it before that her writing feels like a good, therapeutic visit with a great girlfriend.

But she is also wise and powerful with her words. This book covers how to get beyond a routine bible study or Sunday-morning-church-service-life filled with checklists of what we think we ought to say and do. Lysa replaces that with the goal of getting us to all the joy and reward that comes from an authentic and dedicated life as a Christian.

One of the best things I learned here is how to set up my quiet time and personal devotionals with God. I mean, I suppose by my age I should know how to crack the Bible and just "get" what I need from it, right? But I've never felt really comfortable with that and instead rely heavily on someone else to guide me to a verse, give me an anecdote and then tell me what it is I need to know when I walk away from the study. This book teaches you how to analyze, dissect and digest what God is trying to say through those precious words. As a busy mom I want to make the most of these minutes of my day while gaining an in depth knowledge and relationship with Christ. It's something I am admittedly still working on but I am so thankful that I now have the know how through Lysa's book.

Check out some of these awesome chapter titles:
1. Trying to Be Good Enough
3. When I Feel Like I Don't Measure Up
4. Beyond Sunday Morning
5. Devotion Time Blues
10. When My Ugly Comes Out
11. How Jesus Helps Me Get My Groove Back
15. A Glorious Sense of Possibility

Oh man! Don't those titles just get you excited? I wanna read the book all over again! And do get the study guide and DVD that go with the book HERE! I studied this series with a mom's group where about 15 of us met at a friend's house. We paid someone a few dollars each to watch the kids upstairs. That let us have precious time to ourselves and the kids had a blast! We'd read a chapter or two in advance, watche the short DVD section and went through the discussion questions. But it is a great study on your own as well! Happy reading and leave me a post if you have a book to recommend as well or if you've read this one!

August Fun and More on Watermarking

After our trip home for my dad's funeral we were worn out and in need of a few happy play dates! Last week on a super hot day we had Lera and Caleb over to make arts and crafts, Teagan's very favorite activity! I love these sweet tea pot picture frames!

Isla got sweet cuddles from Natasha who fed and changed her too! Natasha is wonderful to my baby girl!

We also made Cheerios bracelets! Caleb didn't have one to take home because he decided it was much more fun to eat his than make it!

This takes a lot of concentration!

I love little Lera's smile!



The big kids love Isla's swing! They took turns waiting to try it!

Lera waves goodbye with all her craft goodies! We had a great time!

Teagan's aunt Melissa never lets me take a pic so shhhh!! I am sneaking this cute one into the blog....

Another play date day and Lera's expression is priceless. Not sure she was ready for a Teagan hug at that bright hour!

Again, Natasha being so sweet to my Isla!

We also had a play date at my friend Polly's house. Her little Daniel and Ashleigh are so much fun and they have a total kids paradise at their house!