Busy, Busy Weekend!

As always, we fill our weekends from Friday afternoon to Sunday night with no stopping. I'm having a hard time keeping up! Friday afternoon, Cameron hosted his team from work for an outing at his parent's lakehouse. I did manage to get up there for a little while to hang out with the crew. Saturday was the Relay for Life...it was a pretty amazing experience and I look forward to doing it again, maybe even putting together my own team! Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Cubs game with Sean & Sarah. They were able to find a night away from their 2 little girls and also gave us our first baby Hatten article of clothing...a Cubbies shirt! Thanks Sean & Sarah for a fun time in Wrigleyville! See below for pics of the weekend...

Fun at the lake house:
Relay For Life:*remember to turn off the music at the bottom of the page:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Baby Hatten Attire:

Tagged!

By Karin, so here goes...I'm supposed to list 6 things about me, then tag 6 people!

1. I grew up on a farm, we had sheep when I was really little and then when I was older we had cows. My parents still think I'm crazy for moving to the city, even though I now live in the burbs.

2. I used to have my belly button pierced and it left a scar.

3. I love to travel and there are so many places left on my list to see before I leave this earth.

4. My six year wedding anniversary is coming up August 3. I can't believe how fast it goest by...6 years with my wonderful hubby, Cameron - I'm a lucky lady!

5. I have become one of those "dog people" I used to make fun of - they are like children to me.

6. My dream is to eventually move back into Chicago once we've raised our children and they've left our nest to start their own.

My six tags: Christy, Jodie, Priscilla, Sara, Krista, Katie...I don't mean to leave anyone off, but I didn't include my friends of family that have private blogs.

Here are the rules:
- Link to the person who tagged you.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Write six random things about yourself.
- Tag six people at the end of your post.
- Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Pretty Princess Birthday

Last weekend while in Pittsfield, IL to visit Cameron's family we attended Molly's first birthday - a Pretty Princess celebration. See below for pictures of Molly in all her glory!

Many Thanks!

Thank you all so much for the well wishes, congratulations, prayers, etc. from our last post. It's been very hard waiting to share the news, but I wanted to wait until our doctors felt that we were out of the woods. Although we're not quite 12 weeks, both our specialist and regular gyne feel that we are past a miscarriage scare. We are officially 9.5 weeks as of today. The ultrasound picture is a bit blurry, but our little one was crossing his/her arms in front of his/her face like a genie...quite cute!

My Eggo is Prego!

Today, I am so excited to share that my best friend got me pregnant (and yes - I'm talking about Cameron)! It's true...after all this time I am KNOCKED UP!! The most unbelievable and miraculous part about it is that it happened the old fashioned way! No IVF, no fertility meds, only the wondrous hand of God. Apparently a little surgery and a Hilton Head vacation was all we needed...maybe the Zehring fertilness rubbed off! Anyway, our dreams have finally come true and we couldn't be happier! We are due on February 8th, 2009.

All of the praying...all of the TEARS...all of the "trying"...all of the negative pregnancy tests...all of the ovulation kits...more of the TEARS (every month)...more of the prayers...all of the doctors appointments...all of the sleepless nights...all of the "what ifs?"....all of the stress...all of the tests....all of the procedures to treat my Endometriosis...all of the procedures to get pregnant...more of the TEARS...more of the prayers...has FINALLY come down to this miracle of life growing in me right now!

I will be a posting fool from this day forward - we will have A LOT to share in the upcoming months so stay tuned! Thank you for your support & prayers through our journey of infertility. It means so much to have those close to us share in our long awaited joy!

Psalm 127:3
Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Happy 4th of July!

Here's wishing you a very happy & safe Independence Day!! We're heading to Pittsfield, IL to visit Cameron's extended family. Looking forward to seeing them, it's been a while! We're also celebrating little Molly's first birthday on Saturday and we haven't seen her since she was a month old!

IN Reception

This weekend we went home for Jeff & Christy's IN reception. They auctioned off the garter again, however this time all the funds were donated to Riley's Children's Hospital (where Andon was treated). They closed the auction at $1500 and people were continuing to donate after it was over. Last I heard, $2500 was going to Riley's!

The Newlyweds:Me & My Siblings:Andon & His Girlfriend:

Lazy Days of Summer...

...what happened to those? Does anyone really have a lazy summer anymore (with the exception of the pooch in the picture)? I saw an article in USA Today and thought some of the statistics were kind of interesting, at least interesting enough to share. "U.S. workers put in an average of 1,815 hours in 2002. Combined weekly work hours for dual-earning couples with children rose 10 hours per week, from 81 hours in 1977 to 91 hours in 2002, according to a new study by the New York-based Families and Work Institute." Government data on hours worked don't capture time put in off the job, such as during weekends, or after-hours work that many salaried employees do on laptops, cell phones and e-mail. Even vacations are going by the wayside: Employees are handing companies more than $21 billion in unused vacation days each year, according to a study by Expedia.com.

What happened to those summers like the Country Time lemonade commercials? Kind of sad that so much focus is on work vs. family & friends, don't you think?