Shawna & Ryan's Journey through Adoption...

...Know what I love about blogging? Finding new friends! Know what new friends mean? Lots of love and support! When we started our infertility journey back in 2010, another patient, Shawna, at my clinic found my blog. We immediately started emailing, walking each other through our procedures, praying for each other, and became great friends.

While fertility treatments didn't work for Shawna and her husband, Ryan, they have pursued other options. They have an amazing foster daughter who I've been lucky enough to meet. You can see by the way they interact with her that they're meant to be parents. They are now pursuing adoption and doing some fundraising to help with the funding.

They have a ton of items that are offering free shipping to the winner from the donor so we are looking for bidders so anyone in the US can participate.  The auction will run from October 1 thru October 15th and all bidding will take place on our adoption page. https://www.facebook.com/gerdingfamilyadoption There are some great items including Scentsy, Thirty One, Avon, jewelry, household items, St Louis Cardinals items, and adult and kids personalized items and much much more. Great ideas for Christmas presents or buy something for yourself! Please check out their Facebook page and help them raise money for their adoption!

Saale Farm Tour with Monsanto...

...Last Thursday, Liz invited me to visit Monsanto and Saale Farm to find out more about sweet corn. We're big corn lovers at our house so of course I was in!!! It was a perfect July day with almost no humidity-score! Not only did I learn about sweet corn, and get to sample it, but I got to spend the day with my bloggie friends: Liz and Meg. When I showed AR this pic of us on the John Deere tractor, she was totally jealous.

After breakfast at Monsanto, we headed to Saale Farm and were greeted by Roscoe. Say hi Roscoe!

Julie from I Like Beer and Babies found a frog and was the only one of us moms brave enough to touch it.

Hey Froggie! I like to admire you from a distance, thank goodness for zoom!

We got to see some of the behind the scenes operation including this grain truck which all the kids thought were pretty cool.

While we waited for the bus to load, I took some "senior pics" of Megan.

What do you think? Next John Deere model?

The tour moved out to the field where we saw soy beans, field corn, and sweet corn. I've always said I didn't like soy beans until I found out they helped move chocolate smooth and now I'm a huge soy bean fan! Field corn is used for feed, gas, cornstarch, and a variety of other items. Sweet corn is just deliciously sweet and you can eat it right off the stalk...which we did!

This is Adam, our tour guide and farm owner, from Saale Farm who was great and passed on excellent information.

After chatting with Adam, we were sent into the fields to pick our own sweet corn-yum!

This was the very bottom of the stalk which I thought looked really cool.

Mmm!!! Corn still on the stalk, looking beautiful and delicious!

Playing around with our ears!

Look at all that corn I got to bring home and yes, we had it for dinner that night!

So we passed a cake on our way there and the bus was kind enough to stop and let me get a picture with it! Thank you Greg and everyone else on the bus for making the pit stop.

When we got back to Monsanto, they were having a farmer's market. I want to work at Monsanto! They have a childcare facility on sight, a farmer's market where you can eat the corn straight from the cob, and an amazing cafeteria!!!

Look, my Coke told me to enjoy it with my MIL!

It was a very informative day especially since I knew almost nothing about Monsanto before the day started. Not to mention, my girl was VERY excited about corn for dinner!

The Dog Days of Summer...

...Fellow blogger, now turned real-life friend, Sara has recently welcomed her second child! She's a mom that's really on top of it as she's scheduled an entire The Dog Days of Summer Series to be featured on her blog while she's soaking in all the new baby cuddles! Today I'm the guest blogger talking about AR and her furbrother and sister. You can see my post and all others at Sara's blog, Running from the Law.

Liebster Award!!!

A big thank you to Meg at Meg-In-Training for presenting me with the Liebster Award.The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. What exactly is a Liebster?   Liebster is German and means favorite or beloved! The Liebster is a great way to share with the community and get to know other bloggers!Here are the rules:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

My questions from Meg:
1. Why do you blog? Honestly, I started my blog because Kristal did way back in the day. Since then I've used it to document marriage, running, infertility, you name it, and I've probably covered it (minus politics but stay tuned for a borderline post on that). Through blogging, I've met awesome peeps and gotten lots of free stuff so there's no way I'd give it up!

2. If you were stranded on a desert island and could have one thing, anything… what would it be? A computer with Wi-Fi so I could stay connected, write, post pics, etc...

3. What’s your favorite food? Mexican-yum!

4. Dream Vacation? The beach!

5. Your proudest moment? Pre-baby=running a marathon Post-baby=every time AR does something new. I tell her all the time how proud I am of her, I never want her to doubt that.

6. If you could have any career/job you wanted, what would it be and why? A mix between a stay-at-home mom and what I do now. I don't think I could be a full-time at home mom and I do enjoy my job so if I could do both, it would be the best of both worlds.
7. Cats or Dogs? Seriously? Duh...dogs!

8. What do your family and friends think of your blog? Although they tease me, I think they enjoy it because they get to see AR pics and know what's going on in our world.

9. What are some of your favorite blogs to read? Check out my sidebar.

10. Sports: Love ‘em or hate ‘em? Considering it's my job, I'd better say love!

11. Who is the hottest person alive (besides your significant other)? Ha-love the way you worded this! Lance Walker comes to mind, but he's not alive-RIP. I really don't watch that much tv/movies so since I'm a devoted Grey's Fan, I'll say McDreamy.

Now, it seems as though all my peeps have already been tagged so I'm breaking the rules and awarding this to all of my readers! Feel free to play along and answer in a blog post of your own. The questions will be this or that style but feel free to elaborate on your answer.
1. Winter or summer?

2. Sweet or salty?

3. Early bird or night owl?

4. Kindle/Nook or good 'ole fashion book in your hands?

5. Wedding: Big or small?

6. Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice?

7. Cardinals or Cubs? Think carefully before you answer.

8. Tigers or Jayhawks?

9. Facebook or Twitter?

10. Blogger or Wordpress?

11. Shorts or skirts?

Happy blogging!

Valentine's Play Date!!!

...Happy Monday! Our Sunday was so busy that I think I need to add an extra day to my weekend so I can recover. Saturday we spent most of the day wedding dress shopping with my SIL, MIL, and the rest of the bridal party. AR did so good aside from running in and out of the dressing room a few times but she made Mommy proud.

On Sunday, we started the morning at Angie's gorgeous new house for a Valentine's Playdate. I feel like it's been forever since we got together and I absolutely love Ang's new house. Oh how I'd LOVE to have a playroom! Angie had created this sweetheart backdrop for pics.

Sophie and Nick both had these bean bag chairs that all the kiddos loved. I mean, I'd love it too if it let me relax this much!

Nick showed us all of their toys and there was a LOT of them!

Emma fell in love with the cookies. I agreed with her.

Poor Mac got a boo boo but his Momma took good care of him.

Dez was loving the balloon and the balloon was loving his hair!

Here was a good shot of all the kids...gotta love photographing toddlers, right?

This may very well be my most favorite photo of the day. I seriously laugh out loud every time I see it.

The boys took off so we got a girls only pic. I love Emma's expression in this one!

Although AR is going through a total "mine" stage, she's still pretty good about sharing which is a relief.

Toe touches with the bestie! They were trying to burn some calories from their cookies.

And I now know what to get AR for her birthday...this car! She loved it! She sat in it to watch the other kids, eat her cookie, drive around. Girl loved her ride!

Thanks for hosting, Ang! It was an awesome time!!!

Hot Chocolate 5k Race Recap...

...Well, the big event has come and gone. Yesterday was the day of the Hot Chocolate 5k here in STL. We had received an email from them on Friday saying prepare for extreme cold temperatures...as in 5 degrees-holy moly!

Early Saturday morning, we got snow...lots and lots of snow. Luckily, Jenni picked up all of our packets at the Expo so I didn't have to brave the roads and take AR out in the snow. Supposedly part of I-70 was closed for awhile yesterday.

Then bright and early on Sunday, earlier than expected because my daughter decided to wake up at 4:30am, I woke up ready to face the Hot Chocolate 5k. I met Jenni at 6:40 then we headed downtown to meet my sis and H were we all added more layers and made our way to the starting line. Our crew, the Turquoise Turtles back at it again! They kept trying to talk to me, but I couldn't hear anything because I had on ear warmers, a hat, that scarf wrapped around my head 2-3 times and my hoodie!

Unfortunately, I didn't really use any of my training. Having already had knee surgery once, I'm always very cautious on ice. Good news though, the only person I saw fall on ice was my husband as he watched me back out of the driveway and told me to watch for black ice...maybe he should take his own advice, huh?

Instead, H and I ran/walked the whole race...hand in hand. Yes, we held hands the entire time until our hands were so sweaty we couldn't stand it. Then I put my arm around her and we'd walk until we'd start running again and then hold hands once more. We ran almost to mile one then probably walked the next mile-mile & half then ran off and on until the finish. I may not have had a stellar performance, but hey, at least I was out there! Haley and I finished in 46:36 so that's not bad considering my goal was under 45 and we didn't run as much as I wanted to. Oh and the winner of the 15k barely finished before us, too. :-)

Oh and I forgot during mile one, we saw Santa and his elf. While AR & I are Santa Stalkers, H is absolutely terrified of Santa and any other character like that so it took a bit of convincing to pass them.

We finished the race and waited on my sis & Jenni. Then we got in the massive line to get our Finish's Mug. I know I'd gotten a few emails that they were looking for volunteers so I'm not sure if they were short or what, but they could've used some more manpower in this area to keep the lines moving. We'd wait in what we thought was a line only to find out it wasn't. Once we got close enough, we saw if we kept moving to the left then there were REALLY short lines. I was pretty stoked to get my finisher's mug!

Unfortunately, our Rice Krispie treat was frozen and my hand was covered in chocolate when I dipped my mini pretzels. My fondue also hardened before I could finish it, but the hot chocolate was amazing! It was an excellent post race treat.

When I got home, Matt and AR weren't home yet, but they had hung garland around the living room (see beads in the left corner of picture). When they did get home, they had a Christmas tree!

Here I am in my awesome hoodie! I picked a larger size since I'd registered back in August and you can tell by the baggy part under my arms, but it's still awesome. My husband was jealous when he saw it so I better keep a close eye on it or he might be trying to wear it.

Definitely a fun race and I hope next year that I can do the 15k. Hopefully, there won't be snow/ice on the ground and it won't be so cold, but with Missouri weather, you never know what you'll get in December!

Pajama Saturday!!!

...This past Saturday, AR and I started off our day in pajamas! I mean, what better way to start your day, right? First, we had to swing by my work and check on basketball. While we were there, we stopped in to see how the Candy Cane Hunt was going. AR wasn't into the whole candy cane as a golf club so she just put the ball in the box with her hand.

"Did I make it?"

We saw our favorite Ms. Claus! We stopped in to say hello to Santa too before we left. 

While Mommy checked voicemails, AR tried to fit various keys into the keyhole. She was so proud of herself when one fit. She also found my change and wanted to take it home for her piggy bank.

After work, we headed over to Sara's where she was having a holiday Pajama Party! Her house was filled with mommas and their babies, tons of toys, and delicious cookies that AR kept wanting "more, more!" When we headed to the playroom, of course, she had to do the slide first. I was really excited because Mac had one of the toys that we got AR for Christmas and it was the next toy she picked up!

Sara had a professional photographer there and a backdrop set up for all the kiddos. Here's one I snapped, I can't wait to see what the photog got!

We ran into a friend that I haven't seen in over two years. What a small world it is! Here's AR saying hi to Baby Hannah and her mom Jamie.

OMG! AR couldn't get enough of the cookies and I don't blame her, they were delish!

She even had her first taste of chocolate milk, she was definitely a fan!

Sara also had crafts for the kiddos and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on which all the kids loved! It was a great, relaxing start to our Saturday. Thanks for having us Sara!

Black Friday Shopping...for the Hubby!

...Good Black Friday morning! I'm sure some of you are waiting in line, hopefully not freezing, waiting for your favorite store to open and find some great deals. While you wait, read today's guest post by Arianna from Arianna Knows Best. Happy shopping! FYI-I'm still in bed, snug as a bug!

 

Finding the Perfect Gift for Your Husband… and You!

If you are searching for ideas for holiday gifts for your husband this year, why not get him something that you can both benefit from? There are many gifts that fit this idea, so you are sure to find something that will be perfect for him.
If your loved one has been working hard all year and loves to travel, why not surprise him with a trip to somewhere tropical? Whether it’s a fancy trip to Miami or a low-key getaway to Hawaii, there are always deals to be found in the winter for vacations. You can have some quality couple time and can return home after your vacation relaxed and ready for the hustle and bustle of daily life!
Another unique gift idea that will benefit both is a subscription for a wine/beer of the month club. You both can enjoy this gift either during a romantic movie night or dinner at home. From international vineyards to a local winery, this gift will allow you to experience wine in ways you never did before. As a new bottle arrives every month, you may find a new variety that will become your new favorite wine!
Is your husband’s favorite striped tie starting to look a little frayed? Maybe take this as an opportunity to update his wardrobe ! Casually ask him what styles he likes to wear, as well as browse through his closet for inspiration. Buy him a nice suit jacket with a modern silhouette or a trendy, yet comfortable dress shirt. Not only will a new wardrobe give him a powerful ego boost in the office, but it will also spice up his date night looks as well!


If there is a new upscale restaurant in your area that has caught your eye, make reservations and celebrate the holidays with a romantic dinner. If your town has other holiday festivities as well, why not add these into your plans before? Catch an exclusive showing of a holiday play or watch a dazzling holiday lights parade. Not only will your husband enjoy a great steak dinner, but also you will get quality time without having to clean up! Adding in a holiday event before the meal might be a great way to start a holiday tradition that you can continue each year!
If you and your husband haven’t made exercise a priority this year, purchase a gym membership for the two of you. Not only will you both shed a few pounds, it’s a great way to spend extra time together after work or on the weekends. These are generally affordable programs, and many gyms also have extras such as a sauna or hot tub to help you relax after a hard workout!

Whichever option you choose, your husband is sure to appreciate any gift you give him this year. Take into consideration what he likes, then make sure it is something you both can use and appreciate. Ultimately, any chance to spend time together is the best gift of all!

Arianna is a full-time mom and a fashion-lover, world traveler, animal lover, and family woman extraordinaire. She loves to cook and bake, travel to new places, share great fashion finds, and spend time doing crafts and projects at home with her kids. She’s got a crazy busy life, but she wouldn’t have it any other way! Follow her blog at http://ariannaknowsbest.blogspot.com/!

Cash Cowan's Baby Shower!!!

...Two Sundays ago, it was Cash Cowan's baby shower! It was at her mom's house and she had dresses from when Jen was a baby as decorations. They had amazing cupcakes from The Cup and my favorite sherbet punch. It was great to see all my bloggy friends that I've missed hanging out with. Here's the only pic we snapped, from left, Cece, Julie, the Cash Cowan herself, me and Heidi.

I'm so excited to meet Baby Hattie and welcome another little girl to our play group. I'm hoping Jen and I can do lunch before she arrives and then I'll take them dinner sometime after the little Miss arrives.

Since I 1. hardly ever get out and 2. haven't seen my fellow bloggers in awhile, I decided to go all out meaning make-up and all! I was recently sent Natural Mineral Makeup by Mineral Hygienics to review. I received three different shades of sheer foundation based off my skin tone (Light, Medium Light and Medium), Cool Kiss blush, Sheer Perfection: Silk Translucent and a Kabuki brush.

AR spent the day at my sister's so I had a nice, relaxing morning and plenty of time to get ready rather than my usual routine of throwing on an outfit, pulling my hair back and running out the door. Here's my before picture, which yes, I'm smiling because it makes before pictures less depressing.

And my after! I love how it looks...very natural but takes away the extra shine while added a little color to my cheeks vs my normal blotchy cheek color.

It was so easy to use! All I had to do was swirl just a little bit of the mineral hygienics in the lid. I tapped the brush in the minerals and shook off the excess. Then I began to swirl the brush blending the minerals onto my skin. I started with the foundation then the Cool Kiss blush and finished with the silk translucent.

 

I really enjoyed using Mineral Hygienics because

 

1. It was easy. If it takes forever to do make-up then I don't want to waste my time with it. From start to finish, it took me probably less than ten minutes.

2. It looked natural. Since I don't normally wear make-up, I didn't want to feel self-conscious wearing make-up but Mineral Hygienics made it look natural which made me feel confident.

3. It didn't make my face feel greasy. This is a huge reason I hate wearing make-up. I have oily skin to begin with so adding make-up on top it makes me feel like a grease monkey. I loved that when I touched my face, I didn't even feel the make-up on my skin.

4. It didn't get all over my phone. This totally grosses me out when that happens so it was a definite plus when I used my phone a few times and didn't have to pull out a napkin to clean all the make-up off.

 

I could definitely get used to wearing Mineral Hygienics daily. I know Matt likes for me to make the effort to wear make-up and I just may start doing that. I hope my friends thought I looked beautiful and now that I've found make-up I like, we'll have to start planning more get-togethers!



I'm A Guest Blogger at My Thirty Spot Today!!!

...today I'm a guest blogger over at My Thirty Spot! I'm super excited because it's my first time being a guest blogger EVER. So please go check out the post and leave me some love.

If you are interested in guest posting over there yourself, send Erin an email at mythirtyspot at gmail dot com

Also, a big happy 60th birthday to my mom today!!!

First Day of Autumn!!!

...Today is the first day of autumn, or as I like to call it AR's Day!!! I've been wanting to take her apple picking all month long but I did NOT want to drive an hour to the big orchard that everyone goes to. A co-worker had mentioned Herman's Farm to me and it was about 20 minutes from home. I decided what better day to go than on the first day of fall!

It was a very small place but for a small one year old, it was perfect! We took a short wagon ride out to the orchard.  

Once we arrived, we got ready to get our apple picking on!

She waited patiently for directions. You can tell it's a small orchard because the bags are really small. They did have kid size bags which held about 2 apples. We filled hers and 3 regular size bags. I have a lot of baking in my future! I'll be sure to post all about it.

She was really into picking apples and pretty good about getting them off herself.

Once she picked her first apple, she couldn't wait to take a big bite!

Some friends met us there too! Angie, Sophie and Nick were there.

The butterfly enjoyed some of the fresh fruit too.

Liz, Dez and Ryan came to enjoy the first day of fall as well.

AR and Dez were both digging their apples!

Then AR saw more apples and had to pick more. They had golden delicious (my favorite!), Jonathan and Jonagold (a mix of both).

After we filled all our bags, we walked back. Yes, it was that small that you could just walk back. They had a wagon ride back but it got stuck in the mud and we didn't want to wait so we just walked back too.

They had a big playground for older kids. Of course, my 16 month old felt the need to crawl up this ladder by herself! They also had some smaller plastic slides and stuff for the younger kids. Then there was a whole area with a bunch of toy tractors that you could ride.

AR found Dez again and tried to give him a hug. Dez was all like, "I don't think so, girl-you've got cooties!"

We had a gorgeous fall day to celebrate AR's day!

Now I've got to get to baking!!!

A Blogger Dinner!!!

...Last night, we had another Blogger Dinner. My very first one was back in May 2009 when I had first started blogging. Ever since then, my primary group of friends have become bloggers! We had a dinner last month with this group of bloggers and since I bought a maxi dress to fit in, I requested that we do another one (although I didn't wear it but I did wear a dress!).

We met at Canyon Cafe and I enjoyed some delicious chicken tacos! I'm so proud of myself because I didn't have one single chip & dip-go me and yah for sticking to the diet! It was about a 40 minute drive so Meg and I carpooled together. Here's a picture of the beautiful bloggers:

From left to right...

Dacy-She isn't from STL but moved here with her now-husband. They got married in their backyard and had Pappy's at their reception. Dacy is a fashionista and actually runs her business being a personal stylist!

 

Linz-She is a fitness buff, a Mizzou fan and 4th grade teacher! I really got to talk to her a lot at the dinner last month and just complained to her this month how much my legs are killing me from running-sorry for the complaints, Linz!

 

Sara-Sara is actually the one that put this all together-thanks Sara! Sara also has a little boy who is exactly 2 days younger than AR. As we were leaving the hospital, Sara was actually coming in to have Baby Mac! She also informed us all about ick fish and how her feeessshhh are reproducing.

 

Meg-Meg and I actually used to work together but now she gets to take her sweet baby girl to work with her-lucky! She's an inspiration and totally puts all my excuses of not working out to shame. She's also running the Hot Chocolate 5k in December!

 

Liz S.-Liz is awesome! I've gotten to know her over the past 16 months or so since her son and AR are about 2 weeks apart. She has a pretty awesome job...she gets paid to run blogging campaigns. She's always full of tips and recently announced that she's prego with baby #2! She told some of us back in July so I'm glad she announced so I don't have to worry about saying anything. :-)

 

Liz-This Liz is our token Illinois girl being that she's the only one from the other side of the river. She runs her own business and in college, she gave brewery tours at Anheuser Busch!

 

Jessica-Jessica sat next to me and she sounds like she's very, VERY busy! She works as an event coordinator by day and wedding coordinator by weekend. She also just bought a house and is busy planning a housewarming party!

 

Lastly, there's me...in a dress, not a maxi dress, but a dress and also with yellow stained fingers from tye-dying at work yesterday.

It was an evening of great food, great friends and lots and LOTS of chatter! Maybe next time, we should do an adults only zoo date where we just ride the train all day with Sara's special drink?

Fourth of July Celebration 2013...

...Aside from last year when I was on maternity leave, this is the first time in 8 years that I haven't had to work on the Fourth of July. Luckily, I had the July 3rd shift so my holiday was open all day long!

 

AR and I started the morning with breakfast with Jenni, Emma and her grandparents. Ugh...I totally blew my diet but it was so worth it! Waffles with peanut butter and chocolate chips-yummy! After breakfast, we all headed to St. Charles for their parade.

 

Backtrack a second...when AR and I got to Gingham's for breakfast, Jenni pointed out that AR only had on one shoe. I assumed the other one was in the car, put her in the high chair and didn't think much about it. When we parked for the parade, I went to the back of my car to get out the stroller and found her shoe sitting on my bumper!!! I guess it fell off before we left and Matt put it there. I drove on the interstate, people, and it stayed on! I was so shocked but excited because we just bought these shoes last weekend.

 

We staked our spots and set up camp. Here are the girls:

Emma was all ready for the parade...AR and me on the other hand, weren't so prepared-thanks Jenni for letting us use some sunscreen.

We got there early to get good seats so we had awhile to entertain the girls before the actually parade started. AR enjoyed walking up and down the street.

Jenni bought an Italian Ice that Emma and AR shared...it turned their tongues blue as you can see on AR's tongue. Here she is talking to her Daddy who met us there.

The G-Fam on Fourth of July!

The parade was right during nap time. AR was so tired, she tried to lay down on our blanket to nap.

Emma was a sweet girl who stayed in her Grandma's lap the whole time

AR loved all the animals (mainly horses and dogs). This is a reindeer horse.

Santa and Mrs. Claus

We put AR in her stroller and laid it back for her to nap if she wanted. She'd lay down but then a band would come by and she'd pop up.

She loved the band playing "God Bless America"

She even clapped along!

AR and Daddy sharing a kiss

The fair Matt volunteers for had a float and we knew them so the stopped to say hi to AR

And then the parade was over and AR passed out before I even pulled out of parking place.

After the parade, we sat in the parking lot at the pool for an hour for her to nap. Oh the things we do for our babies! Then Matt, AR and I went swimming. It was a great place...3 seperate pools, a "waterslide" Matt could take AR down, 2 zero-entry pools-she loved it! Except that the water temperature was artic. We only stayed about 1.5 hours and about 30 of it, we were sitting on our chairs because the sun went behind the clouds and we were FREEZING!!! Normally, you warm up and get used to it but not today, I was chattering the whole time. Aside from the goose bumps, AR didn't seem to mind at all. Even Matt thought it was cold so we decided to leave.

 

We spent the rest of the day at home...us girls playing inside and napping while Daddy mowed. I made pulled pork in the crockpot for dinner and then we all went out for snocones after dinner. It was a great family day and a perfect way to celebrate Independence Day!