Our second Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
I love this holiday- not because of the cliche flowers and candy, I just think it's a fun holiday, and now it's even more fun with a little girl to dress up, today Claire wore a pink top with red and pink crystal hearts on it, with a pink bow in her hair- all bought special for the occasion. Last year our little monkey was barely 6 weeks old, and this year she is a thriving 13 month old, wow how time flies!

They were having a party at her day care. How crazy is that- a party for 1 year olds! I made cute Valentine cupcakes, which I'm sure will be mostly for the teachers, and made special Valentine presents for her classmates, I'm sure she will have a fun day at school today.

Update on my favorite celeb couple!

As many of you know I cannot get enough of Bill and Guiliana Rancic. They have been so brave and have been so open and honest in the media about thier struggles to get pregnant. They are featured on the celebrity baby blog discussing their next steps to building a family.

http://celebritybabies.people.com/2011/02/09/bill-and-giuliana-rancic-taking-a-break-from-babies/#comment-387752

Happy Birthday monkey!! About a month ago we had a blow out party for monkey's first birthday. It was so fun decorating and planning for the party- it was a monkey theme and everything was hot pink and lime green, I'm sure we went over the top, but oh well! How many one year old's have a 3 tiered birthday cake? Well, ours did! She definitely liked her little smash cake- she went to town on it and had a blast doing it.

Our closest friends and family came and she was definitely spoiled in terms of presents. Everyone munched on kid friendly food, chicken fingers and grilled cheese sandwiches, thanks to some local restaurants, sorry people, but I don't cook for parties! I cannot believe how big she is getting, she is walking all over the place and into just about anything she can get her little paws on. We are enjoying her so much, and she brings so much joy to our lives, yes even at 4am when she wakes up in the middle of the night!

It's been a weekend of firsts!

I am a bit behind in blogging, and I apologize- but there was some drama that erupted on my blog- so I had to take a break, but hopefully the trolls are gone and we can get back to blogging as usual.

It was a quite a weekend at our house- we had planned our first trip to Disneyland with our little monkey. My husband and I are big Disney fans and we try to go at least once a year, it's only a 4 hour drive for us so we can do it over a long weekend. Monkey did GREAT! She loved the kiddie rides, and was a trooper- she did not fuss or cry once! She took her naps on schedule, which gave mommy and daddy a chance to ride some big people rides. Can I say how much I LOVE the ride switch pass. One parents gets to ride the ride, then when they are done they give their pass to the other parent, who walks right on the ride, with no waiting! It's genius!

Monkey even slept in the hotel crib all night, which was a relief to me- being that we will be spending a week in Cabo soon- so at least I know she will go down in a hotel crib- I am not lugging a pack and play to Mexico!

The other big news is that our little girl is WALKING! She started walking on Thursday night- and was walking up a storm in our big open hotel room. I was crying I was so happy- I cannot believe what a little lady she is becoming!

I will share the Disney photos just as soon as I have decide to upload them, along with some Christmas and her first birthday party photos! I am a bit behind in my photo uploading!

Bill and Guiliana IVF take 2!!

The Rancic's were on tonight and the episode starts with them starting their shots for their second IVF. I have to say that having been through the IVF process twice myself I think Guiliana is a BIG baby. I love her, don't get me wrong, but come on- those needles are TINY!! I did all my shots myself and never once did I cry. She was freaking out over the teeny tiny little needles. My husband just looked at me and said "you never complained once during IVF." WOW- it only took him a year and a half later to realize this.

As Guiliana was breaking down on the table before her egg retrieval all the emotions came flooding back- I remember that like it was yesterday. You are so full of hope, and it's such a roller coaster.

Guiliana also hosted her best friend and managers baby shower in this episode, I have to admit I teared up during that- she really put on a brave face and planned the baby shower, that was something I could never have done. Baby showers were evil for me- I avoided them like the plague when we were trying to get pregnant. So good for you G, that is so tough!!

Bill and Guiliana moving forwards!

Every week my husband and I tune into Bill and Guiliana on The Style Network, and this week as usual did not disappoint. I have said it so many times, but I just LOVE them! They are so cute together and are just a great couple.

I have to say kudos to Bill for that ring he got Guiliana, it was amazing! I told John I expect that at our next anniversary!

In this episode Guiliana and Bill have decided to move forward and do a second round of IVF, and she also had to break to news of her miscarriage to the public. As I was watching this episode I was holding my perfect 11 month old daughter in my arms, and I could not help but tear up.

IVF and infertility is so hard to go through in private, I cannot imagine going through it in the public eye- my heart just goes out to them as we have been there done that. Guiliana was telling Bill how going through this has made them a closer couple and that God has a plan and this is all happening for a reason.

I told myself that for years, but I remember sitting in my bed praying that I would get pregnant and for God to bless us with a child, then I would cry and cry and ask God, why was this happening to us, what had we done that was so bad that we deserved all this heartache? Now looking back it all makes sense. Nothing was meant to work, because we had to wait for our little angel to be born and to come into our lives. Even writing this I am fighting back the tears, because now I know she was meant to be ours, we just had to wait for her, and it was all worth it- every tear, every heart break, every minute was worth it.

We are ready to party!!

With monkey's first birthday party just around the corner, 10 days, but who's counting?! I am in full psycho stressed out mode! I am also dealing with getting everything ready for the holidays, and we have a jam packed schedule the next few weeks. I managed to get everything done and ordered- so now I have a few odds and ends to tie up for the party- but other then that we are ready to rock and roll.

I know we went overboard with this party- but honestly I don't care- we have waited so long to be able to celebrate our child's birthday and we are doing it in a big way. There were so many days that I thought I would never get to experience any of this- so I am treasuring each and every minute of it.

As if having a first birthday party, the holidays and preparing for my parents arrival to Vegas was not enough for this month- add in two court dates for our adoption, like we don't have enough going on. But these are BIG court dates- it's our TPR (termination of parental rights) hearing. That's right folks- we are very confident as is our case worker, that all parental ties to monkey's birth parents will be severed in less then 2 weeks, and then she is unofficially ours- we still have to finalize her adoption. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we are hoping to have even more to celebrate this Christmas.