The Beadle Family: August 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The pain of a loss

I have been struggling with whether or not to write a blog post about this, but here goes. As some of you may have known I recently found out I was pregnant with my second child. We were thrilled because we have been trying to get pregnant for about 9 months. I was very surprised it happened since it seemed to be taking so long and was actually banking on not being pregnant. You see, I took the test the day we were leaving for a friend’s birthday weekend at the lake. I knew there would be some alcohol being consumed that weekend and I wanted to be sure I wasn't pregnant in order to partake in the alcohol consumption. To our surprise, I was most definitely pregnant. I was of course incredibly thrilled, but also a little bummed I couldn't drink that weekend. Se la vie.

After returning from the eventful weekend (and it was eventful to say the least, but that's a story for another day), we scheduled our first doctor's appointment and waited for the day to come to see our new little bean's heartbeat. At roughly 8 1/2 weeks we went to see the doctor and have the first ultrasound. As the procedure began I anxiously waited to see my little bean, but after looking and looking, we couldn't see anything but the sack. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about and I probably was just earlier in the pregnancy than we thought. So we scheduled another ultrasound for two weeks later.

Five days before my ultrasound was scheduled I began spotting, but thought nothing of it. I had had this same thing occur with my first pregnancy and as everyone has seen I have a completely healthy baby boy from that one. Day two of spotting was slightly heavier and there was mild cramping. Everything I read said it doesn't necessarily mean there is anything wrong, so I continued to think it was nothing and just convinced myself to wait until the upcoming doctor's appointment to voice my concern. Day three came with a lot more bleeding and stronger cramps. My husband finally convinced me that we should go to the ER. I just kept praying that it was some other abnormality and that my baby was fine, but deep down I think I knew. After a sonogram and nearly 7 hours in the ER it was determined that I had a miscarriage. I was in disbelief. How could I have a miscarriage when my first pregnancy was so completely problem- free? I was shocked to learn that 1 in 5 pregnancies end in a miscarriage. I had no idea the risk was so high.

We were incredibly saddened by this news. I guess the only consolation is knowing that it wasn't a healthy pregnancy and my body knew that. My body knew better than to let it go on. I'm also glad that I never heard the heartbeat or saw the fetus. I think if I had done either of those, it would have made this that much harder. I am already blessed with a beautiful son and feel confident that I will be able to conceive another wonderful child. This has not been easy by any means, but I believe it will make my husband and I that much stronger as parents. I'm not writing this to depress anyone or to seek sympathy. Instead I am using it as a therapeutic outlet for myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this and as my husband always says, "Sometimes the only sense of life you can make is a sense of humor," so keep smiling and laughing everyone. :-)

Friday, August 26, 2011

My backyard

So this is what happens when my husband gets bored and needs a project to do:

He is currently working on fixing and updating the sprinkler system in our backyard, so my beautiful yard has turned into this. We're also adding in three additional faucets throughout the yard. There were no faucets in the back of the yard so in order to water things back there you have a drag a 200 ft hose all the way back...not ideal. I'm not thrilled about my yard being torn up, but I know it will make things easier and better in the long run. As long as we don't go into a stage 3 drought, I may be able to have green grass again :-).

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Port A Beach Trip

Now that we finally live in Texas it is necessary to make a yearly beach trip to Port A. I did it every year when I was a kid and I want the same for my children. Luckily we were able to get a great deal from one of our close family friends that owns a condo right on the beach. So we loaded up the truck and headed down to one of my favorite places as a child. I just know it will become one of James' favorite places as well. He was so excited and he swore he wouldn't take a nap on the way there because of his excitement...well, that didn't last too long:

Once we arrived only 2 and a 1/2 hours later, James was ready to hit the beach. Since it was getting on dinner time we decided we would just head down for a few minutes, go grab dinner and then head back down after dinner. Here are some photos from our first evening there:

The first night there was pretty pleasant, but I did realize we needed reinforcements (even for only one child). Luckily my parents were going to be joining us the next day. We have taken James on several beach vacations, but we usually go with multiple families that have children close to James' age. What I realized on this trip was that James needs the interaction with other little ones to make the trip truly enjoyable for himself (and for us). It may just be the age he's at (almost 3), but he was incredibly difficult on this trip. He rarely listened to what we were telling him and chose to do the complete opposite. I've heard of terrible twos and threes, but I feel like he can be beyond "terrible". At this point in the trip, we had resigned ourselves to the fact that this just wasn't going to be the relaxing trip we were hoping for, but we had to make the best of it.

Day 2, we were up early (not necessarily by choice, but because we have a child that NEVER sleeps in) and I was able to shoot some pictures of the sunrise...

I was too lazy to walk all the way down to the beach, but still got a pretty good shot :-)

I managed to get a cool shot of a flock of pelicans flying above me

We then headed back down to the beach for some playtime. James loved playing in the sand, which I'm thrilled about since, like his mother, he can be a little OCD about being dirty.

Daddy and James worked very hard on their extra-large castle.

James loved looking out over the ocean with his binoculars

After lunch and a much needed nap, my parents arrived, so we headed back to the beach for some more playtime. James' demeanor almost changed immediately once Papa and Gigi showed up. Must be something about grandparents, but they can always get James to listen better than we can. The first day or two we were unsuccessful in getting James into the water, but leave it to my father to get him to do anything.

He had an absolute blast in the waves, especially with Papa. I love to watch the bond between them develop further and further.

The next day we headed into town for the necessary tourist shopping and ofcourse we had to take the obligatory "inside the sharks mouth" and large wooden cutout photos

The rest of the trip just consisted of more beach time and relaxation. We also stopped by the Texas State Aquarium on the way home. Here are some more photos from the remainder of the trip and the aquarium.

James with Papa & Gigi

James got a little chilly on the beach :-)

I love this shot!

James making new friends

James & Daddy @ the Aquarium

Watching the dolphins

So that was our 2001 beach trip to Port A. Unfortunately it was not nearly as relaxing as we had hoped. But I guess that is just something we will need to get used to for probably the next 15 years or so (atleast on "family" trips). We are heading up to the Outerbanks of North Carolina next month with 5 other couples and their children. I am hopeful that with multiple other children for James to play with, he will be more manageable. Only time will tell. Luckily, I can look back at these pictures years from now and remember the good times, not the bad. I have also learned that I need to take things in stride and just go with the flow. It turns out I'm learning and growing just as much as James is...imagine that :-)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Joey & Mel's Baby Shower

Yesterday I threw a baby shower for my wonderful brother, Joey, and his beautiful wife, Melissa. They are due with a little girl in about a month. This will be the first baby girl, so we are very excited. Her name is going to be Louisa Diann Hoelscher. In preparation for her arrival I hosted a couples shower to celebrate the couple and get them some much needed items. I have been prepping and planning this party for months and I'm happy to say it turned out wonderfully. Here are some photos from the day: