Secret Lovers

Look at these precious creatures.... angels unaware.

*If you didn't read that with sarcasm, you can stop reading the blog now.

Hopscotch

Travis left for Michigan today for a tv shoot, and he'll be gone until Thursday. Sage and I have a lot of time together, so for our first evening I thought sidewalk chalk was appropriate. Obviously it was a huge hit. She's hardly still in any of the pics. She thought it'd be fun to play hopscotch, so we did. I actually drew one, but for her, wherever there was chalk, that was the place to play. So basically we skipped manically all over the driveway. This pic below is my favorite. She skips so cute.
Sweet girl.

Steady, steady

Sweet Surprise

On Thursday morning, I had to call Travis to get a phone number as I was getting Sage ready for school. He gave me the number and within ten minutes called me back. He said, "Are you downstairs?" I said no, and he said, "Oh...well the dogs are still inside." This is pretty normal, so I was kind of like, "Okaaay...anything else?" He said, "Well I just had to rush off earlier, so I thought I'd see what you were doing, but I'll let you go." It was a weird phone call. When I went downstairs, I realized the point of the call. These beautiful flowers were in a vase with a sweet card saying he was so happy we were having baby #2 and that he hoped it was the best pregnancy ever. How sweet is that?

Secret

Sage has a secret.....

Can you see?
Yes, it's true! :) She will be a big sister, and I am, indeed.........
This is such an exciting time. I'm not sure this is the time I should even be typing this because I'm so exhausted. I've been up since 3am from excitement after taking the positive test . To be clear, Travis and I have been trying for 7 months now to have a baby, and it was getting so discouraging. I would have to take a day to mourn, each time thinking, "I don't want to go through this again. Could something be wrong? Why isn't it as easy this time around? Maybe I can't have more kids?" I was just done with thinking about it. No more googling, temperature charting, or pregnancy tests that weren't necessary. Last night, even, Sage asked me, "When is God going to give us a baby?" I said, "He will when the time is right. We just have to be patient because He knows the perfect time." And that is truth. All of Heaven and Earth waiting for the one moment to say, "Now, this is the time _______ Spence is to be formed." So, thank you to those that stayed positive for me, even going as far to buy things for me and a nonexistant babe. And Thank you, LORD, for a new pregnancy that for a long time, I thought would never happen. It is a year of new beginnings. It's a bit overwhelming and emotional, but in a very good way. We are thankful and excited to watch this new little person grow.
She is going to be SUCH a good sister.
Mayer is mourning over the fact that he will have to have a new home. :) Just kidding...unless YOU want him.

Our Favorite Subject

Travis took Sage with him on Saturday to price an old building. It actually turned out to be a really cool background for some photos.




He said that she posed the entire time.

"Little J" going strong.

You Gotta Admit

This is hilarious. I LOVE Sarah Palin too, by the way. And who HASN'T thought she's Tina Fey's twin?

Updates

I've been pretty bad about blogging lately. What have I even been doing? I just finished hanging and pricing all of Sage's fall/winter clothes since birth and turned them in this week for the big consignment sale. This was an unexpectedly emotional thing for me. The things seemed so little, and not all of them were that long ago. I found her first outfit for church that was a preemie dress. How was she that small? More importantly, how did it go away so fast? Now she's on to bigger and better things...like shoes that look like little mice. :) Ah, there's still fun to be had.

For whatever reason, Sage has been pretty teary at school and even more shockingly at dance. Her school teacher asked me this week, "Is Sage going to be here tomorrow?'' Of course she was, and with my reply the teacher said, "Well she said that she's not coming tomorrow--that it's her birthday party." Considering her birthday is in January, that's an early start. She's been complaining of her leg hurting when they're playing outside. After ballet, her teacher came out and asked me if everything was ok, that she was a bit teary. She said that when she asked Sage what was wrong, she said, "My leg is hurting. I hurt it on the table at my birthday party yesterday." SO, with that said, I got to talking to her later and asked if her leg really hurt. Of course she was "kidding." I explained to her the next time she "kid" that way, that I'd be taking her to the doctor. The next day, after a week, was the first time she didn't tell her teacher her leg hurt. One problem solved. I think it's some kind of separation anxiety she's having now, but she's been going to school there for 2 years now. She gets a treasure at school everyday at the end of the day. It is a very big deal to her, so I told her that if she cried all day, that she wouldn't get a treasure. We'll see if that works.

Sage really likes our new car. She thinks she's supposed to watch a movie with her headset on if we drive out of the driveway. She is ready to put some babies in the car next to her. That was the only thing we could console her with when we got it because she freaked out. She did not understand where "our car" was, but all it took was saying, "Sage! We've got to have room to put babies in here!'' She was excited about that. We're ready for that too....

Until Next Time

I mentioned a few posts back that some people we LOVE, Brian and Ramey, are moving. :( I was in Kentucky for their "last" day at church, but they don't officially move until the 9th. One of the parties I went to last weekend was a girlie art party for Ramey's birthday. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I got to spend some time with her before she leaves...and hates Kentucky and comes home. :)

Everyone at work...or play. :)

I love Lucy, their dog, that is.
Ramey's picture that blew everyone else's away.

Happy (early) Birthday to Me!

The past year or so has been...to be frank, very difficult financially. Travis works in the housing market, and with high gas prices and foreclosures, it was not the best of times. OUR mortgage skyrocketed due to not having a fixed interest rate (after 3 years), and by the grace of God, we were able to maintain what we had, but it was NOT fun. Thank God, thank God, thank GOD, just two weeks ago we were able to refinance with a FIXED rate. This has made our life quite surreal at this point. (this is possibly the most personal blog I've ever written, by the way.) My parents were gracious enough to help us get out of the mess we were in, and I cannot thank you both enough. That is exactly how I want to be with my children and anyone that needs it!

Also, even though she doesn't read this blog, Mary (chrissie's mom), though she doesn't do mortgages full time anymore, took it upon herself to get us the best rate she possibly could while making basically nothing in the process. Many times, she'd get to what looked like the end of a loan, and then go back to the beginning because it wouldn't have been best for us or it just didn't work. She never said, "Sorry, I can't help you."

And my husband, who had to live with me throughout the process. I stayed on him because there is SO much involved with buying, or in our case RE-buying, a home. And in the midst of a hectic work schedule, it was hard. He did it. He RE-did it. And did it again until we finally closed. Thank you, Travis. Thank you for your hard work for our family and allowing me to stay home with Sage.

Fast forward to now. Ever since I bought my Equinox, I have always wanted a bigger car. For me, the bigger the car, the better. I wanted to sit as high off the ground as I possibly could, but financially speaking, the Escalade just wasn't in my future. Frankly, neither was the Yukon, which was closest to my heart (outside of a Mercedes, of course). Since we closed, Travis took it upon HIMSELF to look for a Yukon this week, and lo and behold, THIS week that is what we have. It's a 2005 (same year as my equinox) fully loaded Yukon. This car has things in it that I didn't even know existed in cars.

When they brought it home, I was overwhelmed. It was the weirdest feeling. I cried actually and not for the car. The car is nice, don't get me wrong. It's great, but I thought about where we came from. I remember when we moved from a little townhouse into THIS house when we didn't know how we would pay the first payment, or the second, or the third.... ha. But it happened. EVERY time. I remember when I was pregnant, still in school, and I couldn't buy myself maternity clothes. We really had nothing, but we were happy. I remember getting up out of a dead sleep at night going, "What are we going to do?!" And Travis would say, "God always comes through for us. He takes care of us, not our job, not anything or anyone else." And it happened EVERY time. It still does, and it always will.

I read a verse the other day that stuck with me. 2Corinthians 6:1-3 "As fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For He says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." I never want to receive His grace in vain. Ever. I am and always will be amazed and thankful at all that He has done for us in every area of our lives.

High Maintenance

I thought Sage looked so cute in her outfit today, so I said, "Sage you look adorable in that outfit." Her reply, "Thank you, it cost two hundred dollars."

"Little J" as Travis calls her.

Venting

For the past several months, Sage has started to vent in her room at night. To say that she HATES sleep would be an understatement. She has pretty much been that way since she's been born. But now she can express herself...which to hear a 3 year old do that is...something. Her tone and some of the things she can say would get her a spanking if she were saying it TO us, but I told Travis that she's in HER room and that's what a room is for. I've called my mom and let her hear it. I wouldn't even say this is her best here, but this is what we go through EVERY night--sometimes for a good hour. Then she'll just go to sleep. In this scene, we have Sage, who was being VERY sassy, alone in her room. Travis walked out and refused to go back in until she apologized. She tried to convince him that it was HIS fault, that HE was the one being ugly. She says, "You were being rude to ME, sooo (logic of a 3 year old) I choose EVERYTHING. I choose tap. I choose ballet...I choose everything. That's all I choose." on here.

*Sidenote: After watching this and hearing it back, I realize that she did NOT apologize. I thought she was saying, "Daddy! I'm sorry Daddy!" when she actually said, "Daddy, SAY 'I'm sorry' Daddy." So...I gave her undeserving credit.

Catching Up

This past weekend, we had a birthday party, a wedding shower, 3 church services, and another party. Unfortunately, I only had my camera for the first birthday party. It was a very busy but fun weekend. I am just beat today though. I was the only one out of our family that attended ALL of these events. Here's some random pictures from Jonathan's house for our get together in honor of Charles' birthday.

Me, Jennifer, and Lori
Jonathan was in rare form this night.
Sage and Victoria
Jennifer and Charles
Jennifer's impression of me in all of my pictures.
Me and little.