Journey Through Novembers

Well, it’s November and I thought I would do something a little different.  I decided to look back through my pictures to see what I was doing each November since 2002 (the first Nov. that I had a digital camera.) 

In November of 2002, I was engaged and looking forward to my upcoming wedding in June 2003.  That November, my bridesmaids and I picked out bridesmaid dresses.  From left to right: Kim, Stacie, Tamar, Me,  Tiffany and Marilee

In November of 2003, we were newly married and building our first house.  It was completed January of 2004.

In November of 2004, we had a lot of guinea pigs!  All the pictures from that month were of my guinea pigs. LOL. Pictured above is Penelope.  We had started trying to get pregnant in the summer of 2004 and I think the guinea pigs were filling a void. . .or at least attempting to.  :)

I actually had no pictures in November of 2005, so I had to jump ahead to December.  Ryan and I went on a vacation to Orlando, FL and visited Sea World and Universal Studios.  We went to Disney World the year before.  I’m grateful for that time with my husband.

By November of 2006, we had added 2 rats to the  mix.  Again, I was looking for something to nurture.  My husband is allergic to cats and dogs, so we had to improvise.  We were still going through fertility treatments and I was losing hope that I’d ever get pregnant. 

By November of 2007, the sunshine of our life had arrived.  We had been through a lot in the past year.  I finally got pregnant. . . . with triplets, miscarried Baby B, gave birth at 23 weeks to twins, lost my son when he was a month old and visited my daughter daily at the hospital. 

One of my all-time favorite pics of Olivia was in November of 2008.  She continued to grow stronger and healthier with each passing day.  That first year was really hard as we did not yet know how Olivia would progress.  She was sitting up, but not yet crawling.  Boy, was she a cutie!

By November of 2009, she had finally grown a little more hair, had been wearing glasses for about 6 months and had been walking for about as long. 

And here we are today in November 2010.  I’m a mother. . .someone I always longed to be.  I didn’t realize my journey to motherhood would be so difficult, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  Olivia continues to bless our lives each and every day.  Who knows what the next 8 Novembers hold for us, but I look forward to discovering it with my husband and daughter by my side.  Wow. . . in 8 years Olivia will be 11 years old.  That’s a scary thought.  We won’t even talk about how old I will be. . .that’s even scarier.  LOL!  May all of you have a blessed November!