Mason's 1 year photo book

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It has been an EVEN LONGER WHILE

I will try to be back and I think I am going to fork over the money to keep the blog so that I can still post pix and stuff on here.

I went to a RS activity last night and they talked about journaling. This is my electronic Journal. Has been for a while now but due to the new restrictions I got out of habit. Facebook though has been my cost effective outlet. But yeah. I am back. Time for some cold hard truth.

Things are going great now. Mason is 2. My studio is starting to boom, thank goodness, and I am running again. Long story short, which I might post the whole store not sure yet, debating, I had my second miscarriage the day before Mother's Day this year. I was nearly 12 weeks along. It broke me. Broke my heart, my faith and broke my own belief that, yeah we might actually be able to get pregnant on our own and not have to pay thousands of dollars to get another baby. I am still hurting from it. I am still angry, confused, upset, hurt. I felt blindsided. I have accepted it. And I accept that regardless of what I do I am not in control. Never have been, never will be. We knew that things weren't going right, from the start. I went in almost every other day for testing. Some days the tests would be great. Others not so much. It put so much stress on me. Plus Matt was in AZ the entire time we knew I was pregnant. REALLY SUCKED BY THE WAY. I was alone. I felt abandoned most nights by Heavenly Father because things weren't going easily. Thursday before Mother's Day I had an ultrasound that confirmed that there was nothing in the gestational sac and that it was starting to collapse and that I would miscarry soon. We did get my progesterone under control which is why I carried for so long more than likely. Day before Mother's day, talking 24 hours before Matt arrived. I had the miscarriage. Took 4 hours. Mini labor I went through. Thankfully Mace was asleep for most of it and I know that was help from Heavenly Father. I went through the whole ordeal without Matt. SUCKED! And still angers me today that I had to go through that. Let alone I still didn't really know anyone here in C-ville. Needless to say I haven't wanted to get pregnant again and don't want to at this point. (part of me does but it is such a sliver sized part that it just creeps in my thoughts for a second then I just feel upset again and slightly sick to my stomach with fear of having to go through it again.) I don't want to go through this again. I don't think I could get through this again. So my new outlet is running.

2 weeks after the miscarriage I participated in my first 5k. Did another one a month later and was enrolled and actively participating with the Charlottesville Women's 4 miler training program. The 4 miler race is Aug 31 which I am signed up in, and I also will be checking an item off my bucket list in Feb when I run in my first DISNEY HALF MARATHON! Come hell or high water, pregnant or not I am running in that race! Then 2 weeks after that is the Charlottesville 10 miler race. I gained 12 lbs with the 12 week pregnancy. Stress related. Now I am having the lovely opportunity to lose that plus the remaining I had to lose from Mace still. Currently, haven't lost 1 pound, but I have lost inches. So it will happen soon.

Like I said things are going. At least my business is taking off here in C-ville. After months of trying to get it to it finally is. Just a couple more students and I will feel comfortable, and know that I am holding up my end of the bargain to moving here. Sorry this was a debbie downer post but I had to write it. It needed to be written. It is done and hopefully now I can get past my grief and continue to grow and learn.

Soon I will post some pix, when I pay the money but I have lots of pix to load up for everyone to see.

Did you guys miss me?

Life in the new year!

We have settled into our new life here in C-ville. We love our new home. Almost everyday we tell each other how thankful we are for our amazing house and location that we are in. It has really been such a blessing. Matt is done with work at 2:30 everyday. Who gets that much family time everyday? WE DO! and I love it. It allows me to teach a couple of days a week, well one day right now, working on 2 days, and allows Matt to have some quality alone time with Mace. And Matt and Mace are buddy buddy. Mace loves his daddy so much. Copies Matt with his actions, like placing a pillow on his lap, watch cartoons together, eat popcorn. This kid loves his Dad, and I couldn't be happier. He copies me too by the way, the way this kid climbs up onto the piano bench and plays on my piano and sits there and just has fun. So cute!

I am playing with the Charlottesville Symphony again right now as my schedule allows me to. I am thankful that they want me to play. It is a fun and exciting thing for me to be back in the saddle again with making music. I am so truly thankful for this amazing talent that our Heavenly Father has blessed me with. My talent for music. The ease it is for me to remember how to play my instruments no matter how long of a break I have had from playing. It is just easy for me. And I am so thankful for that. I am also teaching again which I love! I am excited to grow my studio out here. I am excited for the amazing young people I will meet along the way and pray that I am a good influence on them that they desire more out of music and strive to gain a love and appreciation of music.

Matt is still working hard. He is in the Army reserve still and drills every month with them along with working 5 days a week. So one week a month he works 7 days straight then right back for another 5 days without taking a break. He is such an amazing man. He takes care of us. Provides for us and loves us! I am so lucky to have him in my life. Matt loves his "man cave" and loves to share it with Mason and teach him the "cool" shows to watch. We have also started playing a game on our PS3 with Mace, Jetpack Joyride. If you haven't tried it, it is great, addicting, but great. Thanks Cliff and Travis for showing us the game. Mace will play it too, but he just loves being allowed to hold the remote and push the buttons.

Mace is a strong walker. That is what the Doc said. He is amazing at walking. He can walk backwards, climb, tip toes (he lost a toe nail from all his toe walking). His gross motors skills are just amazing. She was very impressed. Mace weighs a whopping 26 lbs now and is 32.5 inches tall. He is in the 75% for both areas now. He is an eater, as I said earlier. This kid can eat and eat and eat. We have no idea where he puts it all but he is an eater. He is just now starting to expand his vocabulary. This morning he finally started saying, "Mama" but not to me but just in passing. He already says "Dada" but again not to Matt just all the time. The way he calls for me is pretty funny, he does call for me and we finally figured out what it was. he just does this "Ahhhh" with the tone going up, almost like a question but also a statement. If that makes any sense. Hopefully he will start to associate Mama to me and Dada to Matt soon. He definitely knows how to say Archer, or sometimes, Archie he will say. He knows exactly who that is too, wonder why he knows association with the dog but not mom and dad? We have heard him say Thank you as well. And Agua for water. He is a smart kid. He understands way more than he can say. I love this kid so much. I am so thankful he is in my life and even though some days can be really hard, like today was, I know I will never forget these days. The good and the bad. He is such a great little guy and I am so thankful he is here!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy new year! Hoping for a happy and wonderful year. I am so blessed to have my son and we look forward to what the future will bring and hoping for it bringing a sibling. But that is just a hope.

Christmas in PHX

We came, we went, we saw, beautiful PHX for Christmas. We had tons of fun visiting everyone. Saw a wedding, had tamales, and got a puppy. Actually my parents got a puppy but we were there when they brought him home and Mace was in doggie heaven! Really had a great time visiting family and seeing everyone. We know that it will be a long while before we return as hopefully we will add another little one to our family and it will just be too expensive to fly cross country anymore. Someone needs to invent teleportation, cost effective teleportation!


Mace got to meet his new cousins, Mark and Aliza for the first time, even though Aliza was only a few days old at the time. He got to spend some very fun quality time with his 5 cousins for one night, tuckered him out completely, and the other kids that when we, Matt and I and Matt's sis, Marie and hubby Cliff, returned home from our double date that all 6 kids were passed out asleep in the front room. Oh, and Mace cleaned out their fridge as he has quite the appetite. He ate like 4 string cheese sticks and a ton of strawberries while he was there. What can I say he is a fruity, he loves fruit and loves to eat. Matt got to catch up with his Aunts and Uncles that he hadn't seen in a few years since he has been gone on deployment for a few years in a a row.

It was just a great trip all around for all of us. Despite the flights. I won't get into that but the flights were not the most fun thing I have ever done. Not doing another flight with him for a very, very, very long time.

~Aunt Kathrine and Tom got this lovely chair for Mason. Seriously the best thing ever. Fits him perfectly!~

 ~4 Generations of Allen men~

 ~Mason and Great Grandma Allen~

 ~A little blurry but seriously THE best pix of Great Grandma and Grandpa Allen. Everyone is just so... happy~

 ~The Allen generation~

 ~Like father like son~

 ~Mason getting to walk around the Mesa, AZ temple~

 ~Marie, Cliff, Matt and I went on a double date and came home to this. All 5 Maynard and 1 Allen baby passed out cold! Oh what a beautiful sight!~

 ~Mason chopping on a lemon at Tia Rosas. He loved the mexican food too!~

 ~Mace with Nana and Papa Branum~

 ~Meeting Bandit~

 ~Gpa fell and broke his wrist while we were in town. So he is one handed for awhile but still able to be a puppy wrangler!~

 ~We got to play with some of the other spoken for puppies at the breeder's house, which was exactly like my piano teachers home and just a block away!~

 ~And they call it, puppy love! Seriously how cute!~

 ~When we arrived back in VA from PHX, I forgot to pack warmer clothing. So we were a little cold to say the least and I bundled up Mace as well as I could. He was a trooper though! (ASU footie pj's, rugby stripe hooded jacket, and his winter blanket topped off with his paci!~

Christmas in VA

We are going to PHX for Christmas this year so we had our family Christmas a little early. We didn't want to have to make Santa haul all of Mason's gifts all the way to PHX either!

Random Pix

I had some cute pix just sitting on my iPhoto and wanted to share a couple with you! Enjoy

~Mason fell asleep while in time out. He just leaned forward and rested his face on the wall and fell asleep.~

 ~Mason found a new toy~

 ~Alligator wrestler~

 ~Somebody got tired~

 ~Playing dress up! I want to be like dad~

 ~I love watching him sleep~