Gone. . .But not forgotten. . .

Yesterday, January 3rd, I experienced one of the worst days of my life. My beloved grandpa passed away. He had an aortic aneurysm. I got the call from my mom on New Year's Day that he was in the hospital and only time would tell. So I ended up having the worst birthday I've ever had. All I could think of was my grandpa and praying over and over again that he would make it through. Unfortunately his kidneys were failing and the doctors didn't see him making it. Then at 6am I got the call from my cousin that he was gone. . .

I've never had anyone in my family die before this and I must say. . . I've never experienced a pain quite like this. He leaves behind my grandma, the love he'd been married to for 52 years. He was also two months shy of his 80th birthday. He was my only grandpa. . . There is a certain rocking chair in my grandparent's house that ONLY my grandpa sat in. Now all I can do is try to picture my grandpa never sitting in that chair again. He was the funniest man I'd ever met. If you were having a bad day, my grandpa would be the best person to brighten it for you. My favorite joke that he used to always say was, "I only lie when I'm alone or with somebody". I'm going to miss playing cards with him. I'll miss being at their house and "grandpa taking a snooze on the davenport". My grandfather. . . Stanley Darwood . . .will forever be in my heart. RIP Grandpa - May you be in Heaven walking with the angels.



My grandpa and my mom on my wedding day



My amazing grandparents with us on our wedding day

Christmas 2010

This Christmas was unlike any other. We had our own little bundle of joy to celebrate it with us. God has sure brought us to a beautiful place in our lives. Even though she wasn't old enough to open presents or anything like that, it was so fun having Chloe's first Christmas.Unfortunately for her first Christmas, Chloe ended up having a bit of a cold, but that didn't stop us from making the most out of the special day.
We spent Christmas Eve at my mother in law's house where we carried on our tradition of having a birthday cake for Jesus (This year we had a yummy birthday pie instead) and singing "Happy Birthday" to our Lord and Saviour. We each got to open a present which of course were our new snuggy PJ's.
Then we spent the early morning of Christmas still at my mother in law's opening presents and having our traditional delicious breakfast. We then headed over to my brother Brett's house to celebrate with his family along with my mom and step dad. My brother cooked a very yummy turkey! We then had fun playing a new card game that my brother taught us called Dalmoody. I highly suggest playing this hilarious game!
So many presents! :o)

My mom and I spent alot of time in the kitchen baking cookies!

Chloe with all her presents from Grandma Connie's house. What a spoiled girl!

Chloe with auntie Steffy

Chloe with Nona and Papa

newborn pictures

My friend Brandee does photography and she took some AMAZING newborn photos of Chloe for us! Here are just a few that she took :)

She's here!!!!

Our beautiful baby has finally made her appearance into this world! Chloe Grace Calkins was born on October 13, 2010 at 3:01pm. She weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. We definitely had a long week. We had our doctor's appointment on Monday morning. After no progression, my doctor decided to start my induction that afternoon. They started me on Cervidil to make me dilate, but after three rounds of that it was still unsuccessful. I was not dilating or progressing at all. Then they did Pitocen and found that the contractions I was getting from the Pitocen was actually making Chloe's heart rate drop. They then did an ultrasound and found that Chloe had no amniotic fluid surrounding her. So we had a couple of options: We could either do another round of Pitocen or we could do a C-Section and get her out. If I were to do another round of Pitocen, they said I would AT LEAST be another 20 hours of hard labor. (Considering by this time we had already been in the hospital for two days!!) Of course we opted for a C-Section. I was not about to continue to put my child through that. After they delivered her, the doctor's found a mass on my small intestine that they removed. They still don't know what it is, but it looked almost like another appendix. The surgeon said that it did not look cancerous at all, and that it was probably something I was born with that I've always had. God obviously had a reason for us to opt for a C-Section and with that, I am so thankful. After 5 long days in the hospital, we were finally able to bring our family home. Chloe is doing beautifully (and Mommy's doing great too)!

Reaching the end . . .

I can't believe my due date is 2 1/2 weeks away. . . Seems like just yesterday we were finding out we were pregnant. The past few days I have been having contractions on and off, but nothing major. I wasn't feeling the greatest this morning so we decided to stay home from church. I ended up listening to a sermon online by the pastor at our church. It really hit home for me as I'm getting so close to becoming a mom. Naturally, there are times when I have doubted myself of "not being able to do this" or "being scared about the delivery process" and his main message really struck a nerve, in a good way. The main scripture he focused on was Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through God who gives me strength". It is a great reminder to just put all my faith in God and know that he will get me through anything, especially the birth of our daughter.

Ultrasound

Today we went and had an ultrasound done because at my last dr. appt, our dr. said that I was measuring a little bigger and she wanted to check the size of the baby and measure her fluids. Everything turned out great! The fluid count was a 16, and the Tech said anything between a 5-20 is not too high or not too low. We were able to see so much because she was looking directly at us! Her face looked like a little alien, but she was still adorable :o) She kept sticking her tongue out and putting her fingers in her mouth. The ultrasound tech even said that he could see she's got some hair! (Which makes me feel good because I was bald and looked like a boy when I was born!) :o) She was practicing her breathing which he said was a great sign right now. She was measuring in at 5 lbs. 1 ounce. It makes me feel very anxious/excited because I am so ready to meet my little girl. I want nothing more than to just hold her in my arms and give her the biggest kiss! October couldn't come any faster!

My Baby Shower

Today my sisters in law put together a beautiful baby shower for me. Everything was great! The decorations, the food, the cupcake cake . . . It was beautiful! It's so weird to think that in just two months our little Chloe is going to be here. It's so exciting to think that we're going to be parents in just a short time.




My mother in law Connie and sisters in law (Amy, Jennifer, Stephanie and Bekah)


My aunt Melinda, me, my mom and my grandma :o)