Roma's birth announcement

love her.

christmas letter 2011

We had a BALL in 2011!

heartbroken

As the Holidays were approaching, I found myself looking forward to 2012. I knew that things would slow down in January and everything would get back to normal. Things never turn out the way you imagine.

On Tuesday, my sweetest, dearest friend, Jane, lost her baby. We have been anticipating the birth of her third boy for weeks now. Jane has been so patient and strong waiting for labor to happen naturally, but after many contractions and little progress, she made an appointment for a c-section. On the drive to the hospital, she felt him kick. When she was finally checked into the triage room and was hooked up to a monitor, they couldn't find his heartbeat.

I received a call as she was prepping for surgery and arrived at the hospital just before the procedure was finished. I witnessed the heartbreak of these amazing parents and loving grandparents hold their stillborn baby. I was humbled to hold him too. He was beautiful and perfect in every way. In my 32 years of life I have never been a part of anything so devastating and emotional.

For the past three days, I have been trying to help my sweet friend, who has been there for me so many times when I have felt alone. They have such an amazing support system of family and friends and it's so hard knowing that we can't do anything to fix the problem. We can only cry along with them and let them know how much we love them. Today is Jane and Rick's wedding anniversary. Jane had asked me a few weeks ago if I would watch her older boys overnight while she and her husband celebrated a quiet evening with the baby. Yesterday as Jane and I walked the halls of the hospital, we cried as we talked about how things don't turn out the way you imagine. I love and admire her so much more after watching her go through this experience. And I know that she and her husband will be celebrating their marriage with a new kind of strength that they've developed over the past few days. It's been a sacred experience watching these two cling together through such a trial.

They will bury their sweet little boy in Salt Lake in a couple of days. Aaron and I will drive up to Utah today to spend time with my siblings and be there for the funeral services on Monday. Please keep their family in your thoughts and prayers and hold your babies a little tighter.

For those interested in contributing to the memorial trust to help Jane's family defray the costs of the funeral and other related expenses, the information is below.

Adam Samuel Harris Memorial Account

Mountain America Credit Union

Account #9338463

4810 W. Desert Inn Road, Suite 1 Las Vegas, NV 89102

Las Vegas, NV 89102

(702) 251-5750

Donors may send through mail, by phone with credit card, online with bank-specific bill payment services, or by direct transfers for those who are credit union members.

pretty young thang

Baby Ro celebrated 3 months of life on New Year's Day. We love her more than words can articulate. She is happy and sweet and adorable and all of those squishy, lovely adjectives. She smiles a lot. I got the first laugh, but no one else was around to hear it, so Daddy says it doesn't count. She LOVES to cuddle and absolutely won't sleep unless she's 3 inches away from another human being.

This little Dolly has more dresses than a girl her age should be allowed to have. But I love her best without any bows or frills. If I had it my way, she would be a nudie cutie all day long. I cannot get enough of her scrumptious, buttery fat rolls.

Happy three months, darling Roma. We are thrilled you're here. and in your own way, you tell us you're quite tickled about it too.

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New Years Eve 2011

so behind on the blog, but catching up on much needed sleep in more important.. so this is gonna be short.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2012 is here and we couldn't be more excited. We celebrated with 7-8 other families in our neighborhood. We played games (pictionary & charades) until about 10 PM and decided that friends + games MUST happen more often. That will be a goal for 2012.

We came home, made some "puppy chow" (rice chex+chocolate+powdered sugar), got cuddled up on the couch and welcomed in the New Year with all five of our kids WIDE awake at midnight. We have the cutest, sweetest kids on the planet. I love them and admire their ability to party at such young ages.

Around 1:00 AM Aaron and I decided to pop open a bottle of bubbly and toast to the New Year in bed. We talked about our goals for the future and how blessed we are to have each other and the little people we've created. 2011 was SUCH an incredible year filled to the brim with blessings and happiness. We finally fell asleep around 3:00 AM. Not exactly the most responsible way to start off the New Year, but it will be a memorable one. So much to look forward to in 2012.