2009 was not my year to shine. With the exception of Jolie’s birth, it was a difficult year filled with challenges and sadness. I really learned to relax and appreciate life’s simple moments along the way. Inside of me, something kept telling me that “now is not the time”. I have always been brought back to Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, time and time again. A little comfort during much despair.

“A Time for Everything”

There is a time for everything,

a season for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to rebuild.

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to lose.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak up.

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.

There is so much to be learned and gained from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8. It is one of my favorite passages from the Bible. Usually, I steer clear from religion or politics online. Too controversial. Adults (some adults) go ballistic if anyone holds a different opinion than them.

The Bible can offer great inspiration. It can also make me feel very imperfect! Everything is a work in progress, as they say. Just a little bit at a time…

Everybody says to me, “You are so open, and you share so much on your blog.” I feel like I share 10% of what goes on in my life, especially in the past year. Do you really ever know somebody? Do you ever really know what is going on in somebody’s life? We all just do the best that we can.

My favorite things from the year:

*The birth of Jolie

*Reading lots of good books

*Drinking some wine *at long last* after a very long pregnancy!

*Sushi (same as above…)

*Only working 3 weeks out of the past 7 months! Yes! This may have been the best part of 2009 (after the birth of Jolie, of course!)

*Beach time!

*Hugging my kids!

*Not giving a *rat’s ass* about most things! Man, it feels good when you can just reach a point where you are mellow, no matter what happens! Ha, ha!

*The *floor steamer* Dave borrowed from his brother to clean the darn ceramic tiling flooring we have in this house! Pain-in-the-butt!

The ugly:

*A pregnancy from Hell–severe hyperemesis

*Dirty ceramic tiling

*Dust

*Health diagnosis yesterday: hopefully it can be treated!

*My mom’s third heart attack

*Stress

*Postpartum depression–officially diagnosed–the first and only time out of the 3 pregnancies–it sucks!

*Having to work 3 weeks out of the past 7 months–ha, ha!

*Other people’s bad year…

*Deaths…

I can’t mention the really bad things. We had so many good things happen, too. Reilly started kindergarten, Addie started preschool, both girls are in dance class, Reilly played soccer, Addie is in gymnastics, Reilly is reading (yay!), and Jolie is super smiley these days!

Happy 2010!

We are blessed!

It’s 11:00 p.m. All 3 girls are asleep. The presents are wrapped. Dave keeps making fun of my wrapping: Kraft paper and *fancy* polka dot ribbons tied on all of the packages. Once again, we did not go crazy on presents for the kids. I did not spend more than $14.99 on any one gift for Reilly or Addie. Of course, the girls get excited for Santa to come, but the true meaning of Christmas is not about the gifts one receives–at least not the material gifts. We made cookies tonight for Santa, and we set out carrots and apples for the reindeer.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Christmas with Dave’s side of the family. His sister is hosting it this year. There will be about 40 people there–tons of kids! It should be a wonderful, relaxing time. I love it when everybody is into the Christmas spirit. I love watching all of the kids run around and play together; I also love seeing them all hug each other every year. I hope to take lots of pictures.

Dave just returned from a two-day adventure with Reilly and Addie at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, MI. They had a blast, but the 3 of them are pretty tired now. I stayed home with Jolie. My knee was in such bad shape, also, so I stayed behind and went to a new specialist while they were gone. I could not swim and go down the slides with Reilly and Addie, anyway. It was kind-of sad, but I was happy that the girls were able to spend some quality alone time with their dad on such a special trip!

I loved all of my alone time with Jolie. She only has two moods: totally happy and smiley…or screaming her head off! She screams when she is hungry sometimes, but she mostly screams because she wants non-stop attention! As soon as I pick her up or lay down with her in my bed, she is completely at peace again. She’s a spoiled little girl! I think she will get plenty of attention from family members starting tomorrow!

The day after Christmas, we will celebrate Christmas with my side of the family at my sister’s house. I definitely want to take lots of pictures in the next couple of days of all the kids!

Merry Christmas!

Wow! What a year! Last year about this time, I was so determined to make 2009 the best year ever! I had so many goals–personal goals, professional goals, and goals for our family…

One was to have a third (and final) baby. On Christmas night, after we had celebrated Christmas with my side of the family at my parents’ house, I had Dave go out to our car and prepare my first Gonal F injection for our last attempt to expand our family and give Reilly and Addie another sibling!

Well, it worked! The pregnancy was a challenge, but we expected that after the previous two. We feel extremely blessed by Baby Jolie. She is such a precious gift to our family!

Our family faced many challenges and hardships during 2009. In a way, I cannot wait for New Year’s Eve so that 2009 can be done at last! The past year has been one of my hardest ones personally. It has been at least 12+ years since I have endured such a difficult year in this journey called life.

I am a pretty open person about most matters, but there have been some challenges we have faced in the past year that I have never written or talked about to most people–just Dave and two good female friends. I think I have handled most of the unexpected very well in 2009. I did my best to maintain a positive outlook and to keep the faith. I still have lots of work to do in 2010!

The biggest blessing from dealing with huge challenges the past year is that enormous growth has occurred. While we did not expect 2009 to be so eventful, we are blessed that it has presented opportunities to grow into stronger and (hopefully) better people.

I had a doctor’s appointment today…and I did not receive very good news. It came as a shock to me, but I am prepared to do battle! I am somebody who is willing to write and talk about things after all is said and done. While I am going through it, it is a different story. I do not have enough answers at this point. Next week, I will go to the hospital for more testing and doctor’s appointments.

There are times when I feel that I have been through enough for one lifetime, to be sure, and I start to get frustrated, but then I acknowledge that others have been through far worse than I ever have. It is kind-of funny, too, that I have been so health-conscious throughout the years. I have not had caffeine in my system for over 15 years, I do not eat any deep-fried foods, I rarely eat meat, I have never smoked, and the only alcohol I drink (occasionally) is red wine (after the past year, I feel like I NEED a drink here and there!).

I need to be healthy for my family. I need to raise these 3 little girls. I will do whatever it takes to be there for my girls and to be the best that I can be. These are my goals…

It is funny how a year can be so difficult, and yet, I feel so blessed. My children provide me with so much joy and laughter every single day! We are blessed to have careers that allow us to spend a great amount of time with our children and to provide everything for them. As Dave says, “They have it pretty good!” The other night, I came home from shopping with Jolie and found my two big girls “camped out” on couch cushions in front of the fireplace, watching a movie. Dave said they requested he turn on the fireplace for them. They were side-by-side in the living room with the glow of the fire behind them, and my heart just melted. These are the moments I live for in my life. The special, every day seemingly simple moments with my family.

I am also thankful for the new friendships I have made with other moms in 2009. It was the first year I felt like I really connected with other moms because of our children.

I like it when life is simple. I do not like drama. I do not like the unexpected challenges, but I am one of the strongest people I know, so maybe it is good that these things seem to happen to me more than others. Family, faith, and health are my top three priorities in 2010.

My family has always made a huge deal over the New Year’s Celebration–not through drinking or anything like that, but just getting together as a family and having a huge feast. My mom has always made it into such a grand event each year. We have always enjoyed the best food and our time together as a family. Friends have always been invited to celebrate each year, too. I liked how my family seemed to make the New Year’s Celebration so special. I do look forward to 2010 and the hope that a New Year provides!

Let the girls make Christmas cookies in my house again this year? I admit that I like things neat and clean {I have neat freak issues}. Last year, the big mess of cookie-making stressed me out! I am hoping that somebody else in the family will volunteer their house this year so the kids can get together and make cookies again! I would be happy to take pictures of the grand event!

Below are just a few snaps of Reilly, Addie, and their cousins decorating cookies. Maybe if we did not have ceramic tiling throughout our kitchen and dining room area… I am really starting to hate ceramic tiling. It gets so dirty! I wish we had a different floor to clean!

Believe it or not, I even used my external flash while taking these pictures. Our house is a bit dark on the inside, so I needed to fire the flash! Hopefully this winter I can learn more about all of that…

Addie making a big mess on the kitchen counter:

More of the same:

Below: Here are the girls decorating with all of their glitter, sprinkles, etc. This was the part that made a huge mess on my floor! They sure did have fun, though! And of course, they loved eating their beautiful creations!

Addie and her baby cousin:

A close-up of the big mess:

It is my goal to keep my house *as neat as possible* this year! With small children, that can present a challenge! Maybe we will make some different goodies this time around–minus the glitter and sprinkles!

Whatever we do together, I am sure it will be fun! I plan on getting the girls together with some friends these next couple of weeks, too. We will stay busy enjoying our Christmas break!

Well, I finished it–at last! I kept it pretty simple this year. I knew I wanted to send out a trifold card again. I also wanted it to be non-traditional (of course!), so I chose some non-Christmas-y colors. You know I had to include pink since we have 3 little girls! I passed on including any information about the girls or our happenings from the past year. I did not write a letter, either. Simple, simple, simple was the goal! I figured everybody on the mailing list already knew all of our news from the past year, anyway!

Below is the front of the card (my favorite part). I knew I wanted to plan the whole card around a 4-letter word that I found to be appropriate for the occasion. At first, I thought about “hope”; next, I thought about “love”. Dave then suggested the word “gift”, and it fit perfectly!

The Christmas season itself is a gift…and so are our children (and all children). This first photo is one of the few I have of the 3 girls together. Even their outfits are non-traditional!

Front of the card (on the outside of the card):

Back of the card (on the outside of the card):

Inside flap of the card (on the outside of the card): Thank you to Kathy Fuller for taking this family photo of us this past June. Jolie was still in my belly!

Below is the inside of the trifold card–all 3 parts of it: Our 3 girls! Thank you to Nicole Barczak for taking this photo of Jolie! It is our favorite photo of her!

I am ordering them tonight (from an out-of-state pro. lab). I hope I get them back in time to at least MAIL by the 24th. If not, at least I tried! Life is busy, busy, busy! I am ordering a linen texture, which will add a little something to the simplicity of the card. This particular pro. lab is THE BEST for cards! They are not cheap, but this is the one big thing I do each year, so I don’t care about the price!

If you would like the template(s) for this Christmas card (you could also use it for other occasions), I would be happy to send you the psd files in a zip folder! I created the card in Photoshop CS3. I used clipping masks for all of the photos, which makes placing photos easy, easy, easy!

Just leave a comment (and tell me) if you would like this trifold template. Thanks for looking! I hope everybody enjoys a wonderful/beautiful holiday season! Hopefully this weekend I can finish all of my shopping! Now I am back to placing my final client orders of the year!

Schools are full of germs! I am pretty sure my bad cold has turned into bronchitis. I cannot talk (voice is gone), my throat is sore and swollen, I cannot stop coughing, my chest hurts from all of the coughing and congestion, and now I am feeling warm/hot! Annoying!

Dave wants me to stay home from school tomorrow. My “rule” for myself is if I am not puking, I am not really sick. However, I think there is a chance now that there might be an actual respiratory infection.

On top of that, my bad knee has been hurting so much lately! Tonight I happened to look at it, and it is about 12 times bigger than my other knee! It is super swollen, and there appears to be so much fluid in there. I have never been one to take pain killers, etc. unless I have surgery. My knee is my only real complaint when it comes to my health. I shattered my kneecap in a car accident when I was 18 (end of my freshman year of college). Just these past few years, arthritis has set into that knee. It makes me so mad! I want so badly to be active in life, but I am so limited. I feel very thankful on all the days that my knee feels okay! And it has felt okay (for the most part) for many, many months. I hope it starts to feel better again soon!

Maybe I do need to rest for a day . . .

I just need to find a way! I will be doing lots of “searching” over Christmas break . . . Lots of new goals for 2010! Who would have thought? 2009 was a huge year for us!

Jolie is going to be 3 months old on Friday! She is so sweet! Demanding, but sweet! Every time I pick her up, she cuddles right up to me! I really love having a little baby! I almost wish she could stay a baby forever! Even when I’m 80! I just love having a little baby to hold!

Who doesn’t love a baby?

My youngest daughter is similar to Reilly as a baby–very mellow and happy. As far as looks go, I think she looks a little bit like both Reilly and Addie–more like Reilly, though.

Jolie is getting a little bit chubbier. She has always seemed like an older baby to me. She came home from the hospital ready to sleep through the night! We had to wake her up to feed her! Plus, from the get-go, she has been a big eater! She makes lots of baby noises; she is definitely the most vocal out of the 3 girls. She coos and even sounds like she is trying to laugh at times!

Reilly started smiling between 5 and 6 weeks, and Addie started smiling right at 4 weeks old. Jolie kept us waiting for those first smiles until she was around 8 weeks old! Now she smiles all of the time, though! It is one of my favorite parts of having a baby!

She sure is getting a lot of hand-me-downs! Maybe I’ll buy her an outfit or two for Christmas. I think I’d rather save the $, but it is fun to buy a new cute girly outfit here and there along the way. Once spring and summer roll around again, she will be dressed super cute! I will shop then!

Jolie is drooling a lot lately! I think babies drooling is so *yucky*! Maybe Jolie is getting ready to get some teeth! Reilly got her first two teeth at 4 months old, and Addie got her first two teeth at 5 months old! So Jolie might only be a month or two away from getting some teeth!

These little babies grow so fast! While I am looking forward to Jolie getting to the point where she can sit up . . . and go to the beach with us next summer, I am sad that the early baby days will be left behind. I know there are more exciting times ahead, though! In a month, she will start eating baby cereal. I plan on making all of her baby food. I did that a little bit with Addie, but I plan on making all of it for Jolie!

I remember letting Addie eat a whole piece of pizza all by herself at around 9-10 months old–at Play World. My kids have always had lots of teeth at an early age, so why not?

I love, love, love it when kids are 1 and 2! They are so cute! We’ve been through those stages twice already, and I am so looking forward to experiencing all of that again! It is hard to believe that we will be blessed a third time around with all of those milestones and moments! And I love the fact that Reilly and Addie get to be big sisters to Jolie during all of her “firsts”! We all just love this little baby so much!

Just a few more days, and we will be on Christmas break! Have I mentioned how much I love just being at home? I can finally get caught up on my picture-taking! I plan on taking tons of pictures this holiday season!

Dave and I are taking Reilly and Addie to the Great Wolf Lodge over Christmas break for 2 days and nights . . . and we are leaving Jolie behind with Dave’s mom! R and A are so looking forward to it! I am super excited, too, to go have lots of fun with the 2 big girls, but I am already very sad to leave my baby for that long! I hate being away from her while I am at work each day!

I feel like everything has been about the baby, though, these past 3 months. I think Reilly and Addie really would love getting ALL of Mom and Dad’s attention for a couple of days!

I will post some photos of my big 3 month old soon! I hope to get her smiling! 3 more days, and I will have lots of time to enjoy all of that all day, every day! Yay for Christmas break!

This is my new state of being. I’m liking it. My feisty self has been put on hold. Time for a new approach is what I have decided. Time to turn over a new leaf as they say . . . I feel like I could be mellow forever.

Below is a checklist. Let’s see. Are any of the following subjects stressing me out?

1. Dave – Nope – Ha, ha!

2. School – Nope

3. Kids – Nope

4. Photography – Nope (not until tomorrow at least . . . )

5. My house being less than immaculate – Nope

6. My Christmas card not being finished yet – Nope

7. The 10 pounds I still have to lose – Nope

8. The fact that my Christmas shopping is not done yet – Nope

9. The 12+ years I have left in my career – Nope

10. High school drama (literally–and I am NOT referring to my job) – Nope

Look at that! A perfect 10! I think aging has some advantages; it’s mellowing me out! Many people think I am a mellow person, and it is true . . . about 90% of the time. That other 10% is what I need to work on . . . What can I say? I am trying to improve myself.

Before the New Year, too!

I am feeling so mellow these days . . .

Five more work days, and then we are on Christmas break! I cannot wait! I know I have only been back to work for a couple of weeks, but I love, love, LOVE being at home! I still have so much left to do before Christmas! Little by little, I am making progress! Right now, I am designing our Christmas card. I am about 1/2 way done with that project. I have one side of the tri-fold card figured out.

I hope to finish the rest of it in the next couple of days! I am doing the best I can with all that I have to do each day! I hope to get them mailed before Christmas this year!

Today I took the girls to the mall and attempted to get photos of the 3 of them with Santa. Disaster… Reilly and Addie were willing to cooperate…kind-of. Jolie never looked up and would not stop trying to eat the flower on her shirt! I should have left her out of the photo. This is the first year Reilly and Addie were willing to take photos with Santa. I do not have any from previous years!

The quality of these pictures was AWFUL! Don’t even get me started on that topic… I could go on and on and on and on and on and on about a lack of quality when it comes to photos!

I really wanted to take some snow photos these past few days, but sadly, I did not. Jolie and I have had bad colds, and we have stayed inside as much as possible. Once Christmas break starts, we will have much more time to play outside and take lots of photos! I will more than make up for the lack of photos very soon! I cannot wait!

Here is the Christmas card I designed for us in 2006. Back then, I put every single dot on the card individually! Talk about taking up some time! I was just starting to work in PS and did not know how to do it any other way! I am glad I have learned some shortcuts along the way in PS!

2007 Christmas card:

2008 Christmas card:

I am starting to design our Christmas card for this year. I was going to wait and send out a New Year’s card instead of a Christmas card for once, but I do have a photo of the 3 girls I like in their {non-traditional} Christmas outfits…plus a few more photos of them…and us…from the past year.

Now…to put it all together! I know I want another tri-fold like last year. Right now I am thinking of putting the photo of the 3 girls on the front cover. The rest of the card will be a surprise!

If I actually get it done this weekend!